1 

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Forward  Movements 


OF  THE 


Last  Half  Century 


BY 

ARTHUR  T,  PIERSON 

w 


BEING 

A  glance  at  the  more   marked  philanthropic, 

missionary  and  spiritual  movements 

characteristic  of  our  time 

XITNIVERSITy 


FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

1900 


f-^- 


Copyright,  iqoo,  by 
FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 


[Entered  at  Stationer's  Hall,  London,  England] 
Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction    v 

The  Increase  of  Personal  Holiness  i 

The  Oxford  Movement  Toward  Holiness  14 

Keswick    Teaching    24 

Keswick  Method   39 

Spiritual    Quickenings    51 

The  Revival  of  the  Prayer-Spirit 64 

The  Prayer-Basis  of  Mission  Work   'j^i 

The  Growth  of  "  Faith-Work  " 93 

The  Culture  of  the  Grace  of  Giving 107 

The   Movement  Against  Ritualism  and   Sacerdotalism 126 

The  Pentecostal   Movement 137 

Bible  Schools  and   Conventions 151 

Woman's  Work  at  Home  and  Abroad 166 

Ramabai  and  the  Women  of  India 180 

The  Movement  Toward  Church  Union 190 

Organizations  of  Christian  Young  People 205 

World-Wide  Uprising   of   Christian    Students 218 

The  Problem  of  City  Evangelization 230 

The  Stimulation  of  Missionary  Zeal 241 

Development  of  Undenominational    Missions 256 

Independent    Missions    268 

Individual  Links  Between  Givers  and  the  Mission  Field....  283 

Medical  Missions :   Samuel  Fisk  Green,   M.D 295 

Ministries  to  the  Sick  and  Wounded  in  War  Times 307 

Systematic  Christian  Work  Among  Soldiers 318 

Work  Among  Deep  Sea  Fishermen 331 

Mission  Work  Among  Lepers 340 

Rescue   Missions    351 

The  Elevation  of  Orphans  and  Outcast  Children 367 

The  Growth  of  Belief  in  "Divine  Healing" 389 

The  Increasing  Study  of  the  "Last  Things" 409 

Appendix    423 


82858 


INTRODUCTION 


THE  NEED  OF  A  SOUND  SPIRITUAL  BASIS 

It  is  always  important  to  begin  at  the  beginning.  His- 
tory is  not  only  philosophy  teaching  by  examples,  but  it  is  a 
constant  ethical  lesson  to  the  studious  and  candid  observer, 
revealing  the  secrets  of  success  oftentimes  through  the 
record  of  failure,  and  constantly  challenging  a  fresh  at- 
tention to  the  laws  which  underlie  the  truest  and  largest 
and  most  enduring  success. 

In  attempting  to  trace  a  few  of  the  more  conspicuous 
spiritual  movements  of  the  half  century  just  closing,  the 
main  purpose  is  not  so  much  a  historical  review,  as  a  prac- 
tical and  spiritual  result — a  new  incitement  and  inspiration 
in  the  direction  of  further  effort,  and  more  aggressive  and 
progressive  forms  of  service  to  God  and  man. 

This  half  century  has  been  lustrous  and  illustrious  for 
the  multiplied  philanthropic  Christian  and  missionary  ac- 
tivities which  have  sprung  up  on  every  side,  as  growths 
of  God's  own  planting.  But,  whatever  has  been  thus  far 
accomplished,  we  can  only  think  of  Coleridge's  words 
about  "  the  petty  done  "  and  "  the  vast  undone."  Modern 
methods,  hundred  handed  as  they  are,  have  not  yet  begun 
to  overtake  the  misery  and  poverty,  want  and  woe  of  hu- 
manity. Beginnings  are  at  best  but  starting  points,  not 
goals;  revelations  of  possibilities  rather  than  records  of 
achievements.  With  the  progress  of  the  race,  come  new 
disclosures  of  human  need,  need  so  various,  so  multiplied. 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

so  extreme,  as  almost  to  paralyze  effort  by  the  measureless 
field  of  opportunity  which  it  presents.  The  great  question 
still  awaits  answer:  How  shall  we  cope  with  the  destitu- 
tion and  distress  which  manifest  themselves  in  myriad 
forms,  all  about  us? 

One  inquiry  concerns  the  essence  of  all  true  work  for 
God  and  man,  namely,  the  principles  which  constitute  the 
base  blocks  upon  which  must  be  reared  any  enduring 
structure  of  service.  If  these  be  unsound  or  defective, 
there  may  be  need  of  a  reconstruction  from  the  foundation. 
All  serviceableness  has  its  preparations,  and  to  overlook  or 
disregard  them  prevents  even  the  best-intentioned  work 
from  being  either  effective  or  lasting. 

In  his  book,  "  From  Death  into  Life,"  Mr.  Haslam  tells 
of  an  elderly  Cornish  woman,  deeply  taught  in  the  things 
of  God,  who,  feeling  that  he  was  seeking  to  secure  a  higher 
standard  of  Christian  activity  without  due  care  to  lay  right 
foundations  in  personal  holiness,  asked  him  one  day  as  he 
passed  by,  intent  on  the  new  church  edifice  then  in  his 
mind,  "  Mr.  Haslam,  are  ye  goin'  to  build  your  spire  from 
the  top?"  The  quaint  question  was  an  arrow,  not  easily 
dislodged.  He  could  not  get  the  thought  out  of  mind. 
"  Have  I  begun  at  the  beginning  ?  Am  I  building  from 
the  bottom,  or  absurdly  attempting  to  construct  from  the 
top  down  ?  "  Such  inquiries  he  kept  asking  himself  until 
compelled  to  start  anew  and  lay  the  broad,  deep,  firm 
foundation  of  all  holy  serving  in  holy  praying  and  holy  liv- 
ing. Such  experience  has  been  often  repeated.  Those  who 
have  led  the  way  in  godly  enterprise  have  seen  the  radical 
need  of  a  reconstruction  from  the  base  upward,  and  from 
them  we  may  learn  a  divine  lesson,  that,  to  make  sure  first 
of  all  that  the  foundation  is  well  laid  on  the  bed  rock  of 
God's  eternal  plan,  is  to  make  the  whole  structure  of  our 
Christian  activity  to  take  on  new  proportions  and  dimen- 
sions, new  solidity  and  beauty,  and  to  prepare  us  to  build 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

into  it  gold,  silver  and  precious  stones,  and  not  wood,  hay 
and  stubble.  To  be  thus  in  fellowship  with  the  great 
Architect  and  Builder  gives  a  divine  character  to  our  whole 
work.  It  becomes  in  fact  His  work  rather  than  ours; 
and,  like  the  Temple  of  old,  it  grows  up  toward  completion 
and  consummation,  noiselessly,  symmetrically,  ceaselessly, 
with  no  carnal  elements  built  into  it^  with  no  stone  or  tim- 
ber misplaced,  and  with  no  attempt  to  reshape  by  tools  of 
worldly  wisdom  and  human  invention  the  blocks  which  the 
Divine  Workman  has  hewn  and  polished  in  His  own 
quarries  and  workshops. 

It  is  of  human  nature  to  degenerate ;  and  hence  eternal 
vigilance  is  needful  if  work  for  God  is  to  be  kept  free  from 
worldly  elements  which  corrupt  and  weaken  it.  If  prayer- 
ful and  candid  disciples  survey  the  present  status  of  the 
Christian  church  they  cannot  fail  to  see  how  it  is  leavened 
by  sectarianism,  sacramentalism,  ritualism,  Romanism,  ra- 
tionalism and  a  secularism  quite  as  fatal  to  spirituality  as 
any  of  the  rest.  From  such  conditions  a  true  self-sacrific- 
ing type  of  service  is  hardly  to  be  expected.  There  is  a 
serious  lack  of  gospel  preaching;  reckless  extravagance 
reigns  with  practical  denial  of  stewardship ;  and  a  low  level 
of  piety  prevails  with  its  natural  offspring,  virtual  infidel- 
ity. The  church  confronts  the  world,  with  its  thousand 
million  unconverted  souls,  scattered  over  fields,  continental 
in  breadth,  and  proves  incompetent  to  reach  them  with  the 
gospel ;  while  at  home,  there  is  a  widening  gulf  between  the 
church  and  world,  which  the  church  cannot  bridge,  and 
meanwhile  intemperance,  licentiousness  and  anarchy  be- 
come more  threatening  and  revolutionary. 

With  deep  affection  for  the  brotherhood  of  Christ  and 
the  work  of  Christ,  it  seems  of  great  importance  to  ask 
whether  God  is  not  leading  His  people  to  reconstruct  all 
Christian  enterprises  on  a  firmer  foundation.  He  seems  to 
us  by  many  signs  to  be  laying  new  emphasis  upon  personal 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

and  practical  holiness  both  in  the  individual,  and  in  the  col- 
lective church  life.  If  our  best  forms  of  service  are  to 
risk  no  collapse  but  prove  equal  to  the  growing  needs  of 
mankind,  some  conditions  are  needful  on  our  part  that  we 
may  command  blessing  from  above.  The  word  of  God 
must  be  restored  to  its  supreme  place  as  the  inspired,  in- 
fallible testimony  of  God ;  the  personality  and  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  indispensableness  of  Christ  to  human  sal- 
vation, the  universal  priesthood  of  believers  and  the  need 
of  a  simple  and  spiritual  worship,  the  call  to  separation  and 
selfdenial  for  Christ,  and  the  neglected  hope  of  the  Lord's 
coming, — ^these  and  like  truths  must  be  preached,  taught, 
driven  home  to  the  conscience — until  God's  people  are 
brought  into  more  personal,  living,  loving  sympathy  with 
Himself. 

When  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  MacLaren,  of  Manchester, 
spoke  at  the  Jubilee  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  he 
thrilled  and  awed  his  hearers  by  characteristic  treatment 
of  "  Spiritual  Dynamics."  He  showed  how  wide  reach- 
ing is  the  range  of  spiritual  truth,  by  an  illustration  which 
had  the  force  of  a  demonstration,  using  the  image  of  a 
compass,  with  one  foot  firmly  set  in  the  true  center,  and 
the  other  describing  a  circle  which,  while  that  center  was 
preserved,  could  not  possibly  err  in  width  or  range  of  cir- 
cumference. Our  first  necessity  is  to  get  the  truth  center 
and  fix  there  the  point  of  our  compass,  and  then,  however 
wide  the  circle  of  our  activity,  we  shall  always  be  right, 
scriptural,  spiritual;  and,  on  the  contrary,  if  we  have  not 
the  true  center  and  do  not  keep  it,  our  best  enterprises,  by 
whatever  name  called,  will  be  more  or  less  failures. 

Thus  far,  all  great  epochs  of  spiritual  activity  have  been 
circles  with  one  center :  a  revival  of  Evangelical  piety;  and, 
even  within  these,  smaller  circles  with  a  uniform  center: 
Prayer.  In  other  words,  all  wider  or  smaller  enterprises 
of  a  true  Christian  character  have  had  one  center — ^a  new 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

approach  to  God  in  believing  supplication  and  intercession. 
John  Wesley  unconsciously  founded  a  great  movement, 
known  as  Methodism,  whose  results  already  are  five  and  a 
half  million  of  adherents ;  but  all  this  can  be  traced  back 
to  a  holy  club  of  four  that  met  in  Lincoln  College,  Oxford, 
one  hundred  and  seventy  years  ago,  for  cultivation  of  holi- 
ness and  prayer.  The  great  revivals  that  swept  over  the 
United  States  and  Britain  between  1830  and  i860  were  all 
the  result  of  prayer  that  began  with  a  few  burdened  souls. 
The  China  Inland  Mission  leaped  into  life  under  the  in- 
spiration of  one  man's  supplication.  The  Bristol  Orphan- 
ages, with  all  the  work  of  the  Scriptural  Knowledge  Insti- 
tution and  of  missions  in  all  lands,  may  be  traced  to  that 
one  apostle  of  prayer,  George  Muller. 

If  we  are  to  sweep  a  wider  circle  of  power  round  now 
unoccupied  territory,  and  have  real  progress  rather  than 
apparent  and  superficial  advance,  the  compass  of  all 
our  plans  must  fix  its  foot  in  the  firm,  pivotal  center 
of  believing  prayer  and  the  higher  holiness  that 
is  bound  up  inseparably  with  devout  and  privileged 
communion  with  God.  In  the  brief  sketches  that  follow, 
we  shall  find  examples  of  this  great  law  of  the  spiritual 
realm,  that,  in  all  solid  advance  in  missions  and  in  all  other 
forms  of  holy  enterprise,  there  is  first  of  all  a  higher  type  of 
holy  living,  which  is  itself  due  to  new  power  in  supplica- 
tion. 

There  has  been  no  time  within  the  memory  of  men  now 
living,  which  has  equaled  the  present  for  critical  and 
pivotal  interest.  There  is  a  general  unrest  and  dissatisfac- 
tion among  God's  people,  a  common  consciousness  of  the 
need  of  a  higher  standard  of  holiness,  and  a  drawing  into 
closer  fellowship  on  the  part  of  praying  souls,  overleaping 
all  previous  barriers  of  separation  and  exclusion,  believers 
fraternizing  who  have  been  pent  up  within  high  sectarian 
fences.    Close  limits  have  restrained  many  Baptists  from 


X  INTRODUCTION 

communing  at  the  Lord's  table  with  unimmersed  believers, 
and  many  Anglicans  from  acknowledging  as  valid  any 
ordination  except  that  of  prelatical  bishops,  and  even  from 
attending  a  dissenting  place  of  worship;  yet,  even  such 
walls  have  not  been  high  enough  to  keep  apart  disciples 
who,  in  yearning  for  a  deeper  spiritual  life,  have  found 
in  other  disciples  an  answering  yearning,  as,  in  water,  face 
answereth  to  face. 

In  this  union  of  all  disciples  in  common  prayer  and  self- 
surrender  to  God  for  holy  living  and  serving,  is  to  be  found 
the  most  significant  sign  of  the  times.  It  suggests  the  one 
practical  solution  of  the  problem  of  missions,  if  not  of  all 
the  perplexities  of  our  Christian  life.  Certain  it  is  that, 
wherever  and  so  far  as  these  movements  have  prevailed, 
the  whole  church  has  felt  a  new  and  reforming  power  at 
work.  Prayer  meetings  have  been  multiplied  and  magni- 
fied :  preaching  has  taken  on  new  scriptural-tone,  and  new 
Spirit  power:  giving  has  become  more  spontaneous  and 
liberal,  and  offers  of  service  have  been  made  in  unprece- 
dented numbers. 

The  more  we  study  the  question  of  the  connection  be- 
tween piety  and  service,  the  more  we  are  satisfied  that  to 
impart  vigor  and  strength  to  spiritual  life  is  to  get  down 
beneath  all  the  accidental  and  superficial  attendants  of  the 
difficulty,  to  its  very  root.  If  missions,  for  instance,  lan- 
guish, it  is  because  the  whole  life  of  godliness  is  feeble. 
The  command  to  go  everywhere  and  preach  to  everybody 
is  unobeyed,  until  the  will  is  lost  by  self-surrender  in  the 
will  of  God.  There  is  little  right  giving  because  there  is 
little  right  living,  and,  because  of  the  lack  of  sympathetic 
contact  with  God  in  holiness  of  heart,  there  is  a  lack  of 
effectual  contact  with  him  at  the  Throne  of  Grace.  Living, 
praying,  giving  and  going  will  always  be  found  together, 
and  a  low  standard  in  one  means  a  general  debility  in  the 
whole  spiritual  being.    We  must  come  to  feel  and  acknowl- 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

edge  this.  And,  that  others  may  be  brought  into  sympa- 
thetic contact  with  this  flood-tide  of  spiritual  sympathy 
and  power  which  is  now  sweeping  quietly  over  two  conti- 
nents, we  have  from  the  best  sources  possible,  got  accurate 
information  on  these  subjects,  and  now  spread  this  before 
our  readers,  together  with  accounts  of  such  forms  of  Chris- 
tian service  as  may  help  to  illustrate  the  effctive  working  of 
the  principles  herein  advocated. 

May  the  God  of  all  truth  and  grace  add  His  blessing  to 
the  simple,  humble  effort  to  build  up  from  the  base  a  new 
and  growing  interest  in  the  work  to  which  our  Lord  gave 
Himself  and  appointed  us ! 


•^  B  ft  A  /I  jT 
ur  Tiijc 

■gNIVERSITT 


Forward  Movements 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  INCREASE  OF  PERSONAL  HOLINESS 

All  real  advance  finds  its  starting-point,  as  also  its  goal, 
in  more  conformity  to  God.  Character  lies  back  of  con- 
duct; what  we  are  ultimately  shapes  what  we  do.  Hence 
the  stress  of  the  whole  word  of  God  lies  upon  the  trans- 
formation of  the  man  himself.  His  outward  acts,  his 
gifts,  his  prayers,  his  whole  external  life,  are  of  little  con- 
sequence if  they  are  not  the  expression  and  exhibition  of 
a  renewed  spirit,  an  inner  self  that  partakes  of  the  beauty 
of  the  Lord. 

Like  a  bold  headland  at  sea,  with  its  lighthouse  to  guide 
the  mariner,  stand,  in  the  survey  of  the  past  fifty  years, 
the  singularly  varied  attempts  to  raise  the  standard  of  prac- 
tical godliness,  sometimes  called  "  Holiness  Movements." 

Under  different  names  and  from  divers  sources,  like 
mingling  streams  merged  into  one  flood,  the  current  has 
been  in  one  direction.  Different  names — "  Entire  Sanctifi- 
cation,"  "  Second  Conversion,"  "  Higher  Christian  Life," 
have  clung  to  these  movements ;  some  of  them  have  been 
stigmatized  as  "Perfectionism,"  or  mildly  described  as  "for 
the  deepening  of  spiritual  life."  As  certain  phrases  have 
become  obnoxious  to  criticism,  linked  with  fanatical  ex- 
tremes, or  calculated  to  mislead,  others  have  been  adopted ; 

I 


2  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

bat  it  is  plain  that,  in  all  these  efforts,  the  same  Holy  Spirit 
has  been  at  work,  showing  disciples  their  lack  of  con- 
formity to  God  and  leading  willing  souls  to  new  steps  of 
self-surrender  and  appropriation  of  Christ.  ThiSj  beneath 
all  change  of  names  and  variety  of  forms,  is  the  essential 
fact. 

The  master  problem  is  hom  to  make  the  possible  life  of  a 
disciple  real?  There  is  an  ideal  which  is  to  be  kept  before 
us  as  the  model  and  pattern  of  perfection,  and  which  we 
shall  not  reach — to  reach  which  would  leave  no  more 
progress  possible.  When  Thorwaldsen  had,  for  once, 
realized  his  own  conception  in  a  statue,  he  felt  that  hence- 
forth he  could  accomplish  nothing.  But  there  is  a  possible 
life,  a  measure  of  actual  approximation  to  the  ideal,  which 
is  practically  attainable,  and  has  been  attained;  and  it  is 
a  great  mistake  and  mischief  to  count  this  possible  and 
practicable  life  as  a  mere  ideal,  as  is  too  often  the  case ;  but 
worst  of  all  to  regard  it  as  impracticable  because  the  level 
of  living  is  so  low,  and  the  habits  of  living  so  carnal,  that 
the  possible  becomes  impossible,  the  will  being  too  weak 
to  resist  evil,  and  all  aspiration  being  stifled  with  the  im- 
pure air  we  breathe. 

How  far  is  a  holy  life,  victorious  over  sin  and  restful 
in  God,  within  reach  ?  and  what  are  the  secrets  of  entrance 
upon  this  Land  of  Promise,  this  present  inheritance  which 
God  would  have  all  His  saints  to  enter  and  enjoy? 

First,  let  us  contrast  the  average  life  of  disciples  with 
the  scriptural  standard,  and,  at  least,  see  what  is  lacking. 

Socrates  held  his  mission  in  Athens  to  be  this,  "  to  bring 
men  from  ignorance  unconscious  to  ignorance  con- 
scious," and  the  first  step  in  all  attainment  is  to  see  that 
we  have  not  yet  attained.  From  at  least  seven  points  of 
view  this  contrast  may  be  studied : 

I.  The  Realization  and  Verification  of  things  unseen 
and  eternal. 


THE  INCREASE  OF  PERSONAL  HOLINESS     3 

2.  The  Separation  and  Sanctification  of  conduct  and 
character. 

3.  The  Transformation  of  the  Inner  Life  of  disposition 
and  temper. 

4.  The  Enthronement  of  Christ  as  Master  and  Lord  of 
the  Whole  Being. 

5.  The  Experience  of  the  Holy  Spirit^s  indwelling  and 
inworking. 

6.  The  Enjoyment  of  the  Rest  Life  of  Faith,  and  free- 
dom from  anxiety. 

7.  The  Entrance  into  the  Holiest  of  All,  or  the  right  and 
privilege  of  Intercession. 

If  this  be  not  the  exact  order  of  importance  and  of  ex- 
perience, it  is  not  widely  divergent  therefrom ;  and  a  few 
words  upon  each  of  these  several  points  may  help  to  im- 
press the  general  theme  upon  our  thought,  and  to  show 
how  natural  it  is  that  God's  people  should  feel  the  kindlings 
of  a  higher  and  holier  desire,  and  aspire  after  some  much 
more  advanced  attainment. 

The  sense  of  the  unseen  and  eternal  lies  at  the  basis  of 
spiritual  life,  which,  by  its  very  term,  shows  its  kinship 
with  the  invisible  and  imperishable.  This  world  is  real, 
and  seems  real  because  it  appeals  to  our  bodily  senses; 
the  unseen  world  seems  vague  and  illusive,  because  it  is 
beyond  the  realm  of  sense,  and,  unless  faith  makes  it  real, 
it  will  grow  more  distant  and  shadowy,  till  it  becomes  a 
mere  phantom  of  fancy.  The  writer  of  the  epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  rebukes  those  who  have  not  "  by  reason  of  use 
exercised  their  senses  to  discern  good  and  evil."  Obviously 
these  are  not  bodily  senses,  but  higher  faculties  given  us 
of  God,  as  channels  of  contact  and  communication  with 
the  unseen  world.  Reason  is  the  sense  of  the  true  and 
false;  conscience,  of  the  right  and  wrong;  sensibility,  of 
the  attractive  and  repulsive ;  imagination,  of  the  ideal  and 
invisible ;  memory  is  the  sense  of  the  past,  and  hope,  of  the 


4  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

future.  If  these  senses  are  used,  they  become  keener  and 
more  acute;  if  unused^  duller  and  more  blunt. 

The  main  office  of  "  closet "  communion  is  the  vivid 
sense  of  God,  and  hence  our  Lord's  first  lesson  in  the  school 
of  prayer  emphasizes  "  thou  "  and  "  thy  " — for  it  is  neces- 
sary to  shut  all  others  out,  in  order  to  get  the  vivid  vision 
of  God.  Far  more  important  is  it  to  hear  Him  speak  to 
thee  than  to  speak  to  Him  *  "  Wait  on  the  Lord  " — lit- 
erally, "  be  silent  unto  Him."  This  waiting  for  a  vision 
prepares  one  for  that  "  practice  of  the  presence  of  God," 
which  Jeremy  Taylor  makes  the  "  third  instrument  of  holy 
living."  This  vision  of  God  makes  the  unseen  world 
a  verity,  a  reality,  a  certainty,  as  assured  as  the  material 
universe,  and  he  who  thus  walks  with  the  unseen  God, 
like  Moses,  endures  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible.  The 
weekly  Sabbath  rest  answers  a  similar  purpose:  it  leaves 
us  free  to  converse  with  celestial  things.  As  the  eye  rests 
itself  and  improves  its  vision  by  occasionally  looking  away 
from  nearer  ol?jects  to  the  far  horizon  or  the  farthest  stars 
of  heaven,  the  whole  soul  rests  by  looking  at  the  unseen 
and  eternal.  And  he  who  robs  God  of  holy  time  by  sec- 
ularizing the  Sabbath,  cheats  himself  far  more. 

So,  also,  it  was  expedient  that  Christ  should  go  away, 
that  henceforth  He  should  not  be  known  after  the  flesh; 
and  that  the  Holy  Spirit  should  come  to  dwell  within,  with 
all  disciples  and  at  all  times,  and  school  us  to  know  Christ 
by  that  other  unveiling  of  His  personal  presence  through 
the  inner  sense,  compelling  us  to  walk  by  faith,  not 
by  sight,  no  longer  dependent  on  the  grosser  carnal 
senses. 

So  soon  as  we  really  begin  to  live  in  this  unseen  realm 
and  walk  with  this  unseen  presence,  every  other  attainment 
becomes  possible — in  a  sense  natural.  To  be  under  the  eye 
of  God — consciously,  constantly — to  set  God  always  before 

♦  See  very  important  text.    Numbers  vii. :  89. 


THE  INCREASE  OF  PERSONAL  HOLINESS     5 

us,  is  to  have  Him  at  our  right  hand,  so  that  we  can  not 
be  moved.  What  holy  intrepidity,  when  He  is  near,  ^nd 
what  courage  in  conflict  with  evil  and  in  confronting  bar- 
riers to  service !  The  conduct  and  character  become  sepa- 
rated unto  Him  and  sanctified,  because  it  is  impossible  to 
sin  deliberately  while  He  is  not  lost  sight  of.  It  is  only 
when  we  flee  from  His  presence,  like  Jonah,  that  disobedi- 
ence is  habitual.  To  hold  one's  self  directly  under  God's 
eye,  and  to  stand  before  Him  with  the  eye  upon  Him,  wait- 
ing for  His  beck  and  glance,  compels  personal  holiness — is 
itself  the  very  attitude  of  holy  obedience.  In  His  presence 
sin  flees  as  shadows  before  the  light,  for  transgressions 
are  deeds  of  darkness. 

Even  the  inmost  life  of  temper  and  disposition  becomes 
transformed — transfigured — when  we  live  as  in  His  secret 
chambers.  When  He  encompasses  and  enspheres  us,  He 
interposes  between  us  and  all  the  foes  of  our  inward  peace. 
Envy,  jealousy,  malice,  anger,  impatience,  ungentleness^ 
uncharitableness,  unloveliness, — all  these  belong  outside 
of  the  sphere  where  God  and  the  saint  meet  and  dwell  to- 
gether. It  is  amazing  how  immediate,  and  even  instanta- 
neous, may  be  the  actual  entrance  into  a  new  atmosphere  of 
inward  peace,  when  once  a  disciple,  after  many  years  of 
hopeless  struggle  and  wrestle  with  that  inward  tormentor 
— a  vicious  temper,  an  unholy  anger,  an  unsanctified  dis- 
position— suddenly  enters  into  the  conscious  presence  of 
God — feels  that  He  is  a  living,  present  God,  and  that  He 
can  bring  under  control  that  wicked  and  unruly  member, 
the  tongue,  and  that  even  more  unruly  "  member,"  the  tem- 
per ;  so  that  one  just  gives  it  over  into  His  keeping  and  lets 
Him  subdue  it.  And  then,  to  see  Him  do  it !  and  not  only 
conquer  it,  but  displace  it,  and  in  its  stead  give  outright 
its  very  opposite — flooding  the  heart  with  His  love — so  that 
instead  of  a  constant  war  against  evil,  there  is  a  new  im- 
pulse, a  passion  for  the  right,  so  that  we  wonder  that  we 


6  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ever  saw  any  occasion  for  the  childish  impatience  and 
fretf ulness  and  selfishness  of  past  years ! 

What  a  step,  too,  when  the  keys  of  the  whole  house  are 
surrendered  up  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  the  whole  govern- 
ment of  the  little  empire  within  transferred  to  His  shoul- 
der; when  the  last  locked  room  and  cupboard  and  secret 
chamber  of  our  imagery  and  idolatry  are  thrown  open 
to  Him,  and  He  sweeps  out  all  the  vile  things  which  the 
godless  life  has  hoarded  and  hidden;  and  then  turns  the 
very  hiding  places  of  our  abandoned  idols  into  the  sanctu- 
ary of  His  presence  and  communion!  The  enthronement 
of  Christ  in  the  soul — that  is  His  manifestation  unto  the 
believer,  as  never  unto  the  world,  which  is  the  crown  of  all 
promises.  *  Then  it  is  that  God  "  reveals  His  son  in  "  us, 
and  shows  the  vast  difference  between  a  Christ  within 
and  a  Christ  without — a  Christ  no  longer  knocking  at  the 
door  but  supping  at  the  banquet  board.  He  with  us  and 
we  with  Him. 

Christ  ought  to  be,  and  may  be,  on  the  throne  of  our 
inner  being.  Master,  Lord,  Sovereign.  And  when  He  is 
enthroned,  self  is  dethroned.  The  self-life  is  the  last  inner 
enemy  to  be  destroyed.  It  is  the  root  of  all  forms  of  sin ; 
and,  long  after  every  known  sin  and  weight  are  put  away, 
it  survives ;  and  when  every  other  form  of  pride  is  brought 
into  the  dust,  the  subtle  survival  of  the  self-life  is  seen  in 
the  pride  of  humility.  What  a  hydra-headed  monster  self 
is! — self-trust,  self-help,  self-will,  self-seeking,  self-pleas- 
ing, self-defense,  self-glory,  always  intruding  between  the 
soul  and  its  true  Sovereign.  To  enthrone  Christ  in  the  in- 
most life,  is  to  find  self-distrust,  self-abandonment,  self- 
surrender,  self-denial,  self-renunciation,  self-commitment, 
self-oblivion,  taking  the  place  of  those  hideous  evils  al- 
ready named. 

As  to  the  Spirit's  work,  how  few  disciples  even  under- 

*  John  xiv. :  13. 


THE  INCREASE  OF  PERSONAL  HOLINESS     7 

stand  it !  That  sublime  sentence  of  ten  words :  He  that  is 
joined  unto  the  Lord  is  one  spirit  *  is  the  summit  of  all 
revelation  as  to  the  believer's  inseparable  wedlock  with  the 
Lord,  and  it  is  the  key  which  unlocks  both  Epistles  to  the 
Corinthians.  For,  inasmuch  as  the  Holy  Spirit  is  one 
with  the  believing  human  spirit,  He  must  evince  such 
unity  by  the  impress  of  God  left  by  Him  upon  the  believer's 
inner  life  and  outer  life.  And  so  Paul  teaches  that  God's 
wisdom  is  reflected  in  the  disciple's  knowledge  of  divine 
things ;  God's  ownership,  in  His  possession  of  the  believer 
as  His  temple;  God's  sovereignty,  in  His  distribution  of 
gifts  and  spheres  of  services ;  God's  eternity,  in  the  glory 
of  the  undying  resurrection  body ;  God's  power,  in  the  be- 
liever's transformation  into  His  likeness;  God's  holiness, 
in  His  sanctification,  and  God's  blessedness,  in  His  ecstatic 
visions  and  experiences,  f 

But,  beside  the  Spirit's  indwelling,  our  privilege  is  to 
know  His  threefold  inworking:  His  sealing,  in  our  as- 
surance. His  anointing,  in  our  illumination.  His  filling,  in 
our  gracious  power  for  service.  What  a  monstrous  evil 
is  that,  when  a  child  of  God,  who  may  know  and  feel  the 
miracle  of  such  indwelling,  inworking  and  outworking  of 
the  Divine  Spirit,  lives  a  life  that  so  grieves  and  quenches 
the  Holy  Ghost,  that  He  is  like  a  silent  "  voice  "  or  a  stifled 
and  scarce  burning  flame ! 

As  to  the  Rest  Life  of  Faith,  with  its  casting  of  all  care 
upon  God,  and  its  perfect  peace  of  trust,  the  fact  that 
such  experience  is  possible  ought  to  fill  every  disciple  with 
a  divine  unrest  until  it  is  actually  his  possession.  This 
is  the  spiritual  Canaan,  the  true  land  of  promise,  now  to  be 
entered,  appropriated,  enjoyed.  Egypt  with  its  bondage, 
burdens,  sins,  and  sorrows,  left  behind— the  desert,  with 
its  wandering,  barrenness,  disquiets  and  defeats,  also  left 

•  I  Cor.  vi. :  17. 
See  X  Cor.  ii.,  vi.,  vii.,  xii.,  xv.,  and  2  Cor.  iii.,  vi.,  xii. 

or  run 

TjinVEKSlTT 
CAUF05* 


8  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

behind,  and  the  Jordan  of  a  new  consecration  and  self- 
surrender  crossed,  that  He  who  brought  us  out  may  bring 
us  in,  into  conscious  fellowship  with  God,  victory  over 
the  Anakim,  possession  of  the  promises,  and  fruitfulness 
of  service.  All  this  disciples  have  known,  like  Paul,  and, 
thank  God,  thousands  now  know;  and  it  is  only  because 
unbelief  limits  God  and  disobedience  limits  ourselves,  that 
all  who  are  bom  of  God  do  not  cross  this  Jordan  and 
march  through  this  Land  of  milk  and  honey,  vineyards 
and  orchards,  forests  of  timber  and  mines  of  precious 
metal,  and  claim  it  and  all  its  riches,  as  their  own. 

The  last  feature  of  the  possible  life  in  God  is  the  privi- 
lege of  entering  within  the  rent  veil  and  standing  as 
priests  and  intercessors,  immediately  before  the  Mercy 
Seat.  Prevailing  prayer  is  so  rare  that  it  seems  to  be  a 
lost  art.  Yet  what  unequivocal  promises  offer  their  crown 
to  the  suppliant  believer !  *'  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in 
my  name '' — can  anything  surpass  that !  The  only  limita- 
tion to  that  universal  "  whatsoever,"  is  "  in  my  name," 
which  is  seven  times  repeated  for  emphasis.  *  The  Name 
stands  for  the  Person,  and  to  ask  in  His  name  is  to  ask 
by  right  of  oneness,  identification  by  faith,  with  Him;  so 
that,  in  effect,  He  becomes  the  suppliant.  Whoever  au- 
thorizes me  to  proffer  a  request  in  His  name,  himself 
makes  that  request  through  me,  and  the  party  of  whom  it 
is  asked  sees  him  back  of  the  petitioner.  This  is  our 
Lord's  last  lesson  in  the  school  of  prayer,  as  closet  seclu- 
sion was  the  first ;  and  well  it  may  be  the  last,  for  beyond 
it  there  is  nothing  more  to  be  learned  or  enjoyed. 

It  is  plain  that  very  few,  even  among  praying  saints, 
do  so  prevail  in  prayer,  and  we  all  know  it.  Thousands 
of  earnest  petitions  seem  wasted,  and,  judged  by  re- 
sults, are  wasted.  Either,  therefore,  God  is  untrue  or  man 
is  unfaithful.     The  former  supposition  would  be  blas- 

*  John  xiv.-xvi. 


THE  INCREASE  OF  PERSONAL  HOLINESS     9 

phemy;  and  we  are  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is 
little  real  asking  in  Jesus'  name.  Here  is  the  real  core 
of  the  difficulty.  Unbelief,  disobedience,  an  alienated 
heart,  separate  the  believer  from  Christ  and  the  Spirit,  so 
that  the  bond  is  practically  ineffective;  prayer  in  Jesus' 
name  is  too  high  a  privilege  and  prerogative  to  be  enjoyed 
without  intimate  union,  a  sympathy  that  Christ  himself 
calls  a  symphony.  *  Symphony  is  musical  accord,  and 
implies  chords,  attuned  to  the  same  key  and  to  each  other 
and  struck  by  an  intelligent  musician's  hand.  Even  a  saved 
soul  may  live  a  life  so  practically  unbelieving,  unloving, 
unsubmissive,  that  there  is  discord  rather  than  concord — 
then  such  symphony  becomes  impossible,  and  the  words 
"  in  Jesus'  name  "  become  a  mere  form^  if  not  a  farce. 

The  teaching  of  the  word  is  unmistakable.  James,  and 
John,  and  Paul,  complete  Christ's  lesson,  and  teach  that  it 
is  only  holiness  of  life  which  brings  such  accord  with  God 
as  to  make  possible  prayer  in  Jesus'  name.  While  I  con- 
tinue in  sin,  neglect  known  duty,  regard  iniquity  in  my 
heart,  the  Lord  can  not  hear  me.  Such  a  life  sounds  in 
His  ear  one  long  discord ;  disobedience  makes  even  prayer 
a  new  affront  to  God.  But,  so  far  as  we  are  swayed  by 
faith,  love,  obedience,  zeal  for  God's  glory,  the  Spirit 
groans  within  and  our  prayers  find  their  way  into  Christ's 
censer,  and  come  back  in  answers  which  are  mingled  with 
the  fire  from  the  altar  above,  t 

The  believing,  obedient  disciple  may  thus  enter  into  the 
Holiest  of  all,  and  take  his  stand  as  a  priest — note  the 
meaning  of  the  word — one  who  stands  before  God;  he  may 
come  to  the  very  Mercy  Seat,  claim  the  intercessor's  right 
and  place,  and,  like  Noah  and  Job,  Abraham  and  Mose^, 
Samuel  and  David,  Elijah  and  Daniel,  prevail  with  God. 
What  wonder  that  the  patriarch  of  Bristol,  sixty-five  years 

♦  Matt,  xviii. :  19.    Greek, 
t  Rom.  viii. ;  Rev.  viii. 


10  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ago,  gave  himself  to  a  life  of  intercession  that  he  might 
prove  to  an  unbelieving  world  and  a  half  believing  church 
that  God  is  a  present,  living,  faithful  prayer-hearing  God ! 

We  have  thus,  as  briefly  as  was  possible,  outlined  the 
holiness  movement  of  our  century.  It  is  this  life  of  seven- 
fold privilege,  power,  and  blessing,  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  urging  upon  God's  people  by  many  forms  of  appeal; 
and  the  fact  that  extremes  and  errors  now  and  then  appear 
in  connection  with  human  advocacy  of  a  holier  life  should 
not  serve  to  obscure  the  fact  that,  underneath  all  the 
worthless  driftwood  that  is  borne  on  by  this  current,  there 
is  a  deep,  onflowing  River  of  God. 

We  must  at  least  advert  to  some  of  the  conspicuous 
leaders  of  these  holiness  movements,  if  only  to  mention 
a  few  of  them. 

Charles  Grandison  Finney  was  one  of  the  conspicuous 
promoters  of  this  advance.  He  stands  especially  for  the 
responsible  activity  of  the  human  will,  versus  the  passivity 
of  a  fatalistic  election.  He  found  himself  living  in  an  age 
of  apathy,  when  even  disciples  were  idly  and  indifferently 
consenting  to  a  life,  alike  devoid  of  holiness  and  power, 
waiting  for  some  irresistible  impulse  from  above.  And  he 
thundered  out  remonstrance.  He  emphasized  the  neces- 
sity and  liberty  of  the  Human  Will,  in  salvation  and  sanc- 
tification;  and  carried  his  doctrine  so  far,  that  he  main- 
tained that  all  sin  and  holiness  depend  mainly  on  the  atti- 
tude of  the  will,  and  hence  that  a  perfect  choice  of  God 
and  goodness  is  essentially  a  perfect  life. 

Asa  Mahan,  and  others  of  the  same  school,  represent 
especially  the  definite  reception  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  sanc- 
tiiication  and  for  service.  He  maintained  with  singular 
force  and  power  that  an  unholy  life  is  one  which  is  incon- 
sistent with  the  fundamental  law  of  salvation ;  that  there  is 
to  be  a  new  creation,  and  that  the  disposition  is  to  be  rad- 
ically renewed  by  the  grace  of  God;  and  that  this  inner 


THE  INCREASE  OF  PERSONAL  HOLINESS    ii 

transfiguration  may  be  as  instantaneous  as  the  type  of  it,  in 
Christ's  transfiguration. 

WilHam  E.  Boardman  stands  for  a  higher  Christian  life 
— a  change,  corresponding  to  conversion,  and  often 
known  as  a  ''  second  conversion  " — in  which  the  change 
of  attitude  Godward,  conscious  witness  of  God's  in- 
dwelHng  and  inworking,  and  pow.er  to  work  for  human 
salvation,  are  as  unmistakable  as  the  transition  from  night 
to  day. 

R.  Pearsall  Smith,  and  others  like  him,  advocated  and 
emphasized  non-continuance  in  sin,  abandonment  of  every 
weight,  even  tho  not  positively  sinful,  and  a  definite  con- 
secration, whereby  the  wilderness  life  is  left  behind  for  the 
Canaan  life. 

The  Plymouth  brethren,  with  all  their  divisive,  exclu- 
sive, and  sometimes  controversial  tendencies,  have  with 
uncompromising  hostility  fought  for  the  Word  of  God  as 
the  final  rule  of  faith  and  practise,  for  a  simple  apostolic 
worship,  and  a  literal  obedience  to  Christ's  teachings. 
They  have  done  as  much  as  any  class  of  disciples  to  pro- 
mote practical  separation  from  the  world,  and  must  not 
be  forgotten  in  the  general  estimate  of  the  factors  con- 
tributing to  the  great  final  result,  a  sanctified  and  peculiar 
people  for  God. 

The  Methodists  deserve  recognition,  as  leaders  in  in- 
sisting on  "  Sanctification,"  ever  since  the  days  of  Wes- 
ley; but  we  are  now  particularly  tracing  recent  develop- 
ments without  respect  to  denominations.  The  Mystics 
also  would  deserve  a  very  prominent  place  in  this  survey, 
only  that  their  history  reaches  back  through  the  ages  and 
demands  separate  treatment ;  yet  it  is  not  to  be  overlooked 
that  every  great  movement  in  the  direction  of  holier  life  is 
inseparable  from  this  great  current  of  thought  that  is  asso- 
ciated with  such  as  Jacob  Bohme,  St.  Theresa,  Catherine 
of  Siena,  Madame  Guyon,  Fenelon,  Tauler,  and  William 


12  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Law.  They  who  taught  "  vision  by  means  of  a  higher 
light,  and  action  under  a  higher  freedom  "  mav  have  run 
to  extremes,  but  they  got  hold  of  two  essential  principles 
that  underlie  all  the  highest  and  holiest  experiences,  and 
many  of  them  closely  walked  with  God. 

Among  all  the  leaders  of  this  holiness  movement,  we 
regard  one,  hitherto  unnoticed  as  such,  as  unsurpassed 
in  his  way — the  late  and  widely  mourned  Adoniram  J.  Gor- 
don. Without  ever  talking  much  about  it,  or  even  think- 
ing of  himself  as  an  example  or  advocate  of  a  holy  life,  he 
lived  what  many  others  taught,  and  walked  while  they 
talked.  Never  has  the  writer  known  any  man  in  America 
whose  crystalline  beauty  and  symmetry  and  transparency 
of  spirit  surpassed  his.  How  far  Dr.  Gordon  taught  holi- 
ness is  seen  in  his  books  on  the  "  Twofold  Life,"  the 
"Ministry  of  the  Spirit,"  *' How  Christ  Came  to 
Church,"  etc.  But  how  he  lived  holiness,  only  those  know 
who  daily  enjoyed  his  companionship,  and  saw  his  face 
shine  with  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  that  was  upon  him. 

The  theme  we  are  treating  is  of  sublime  practical  im- 
portance; it  is  colossal,  overtopping  all  other  subjects  in 
its  magnitude  as  related  to  the  triumph  of  Christ  in  this 
world.  Only  a  "  peculiar  people  "  will  ever  be  "  zealous 
of  good  works."  While  we  seek  to  build  up  missions  or 
service  to  mankind,  upon  any  other  foundation  than  holi- 
ness unto  the  Lord,  we  are  basing  our  work  upon  quick- 
sand. All  the  "  enthusiasm  "  in  the  world  will  only  be 
like  froth  and  foam,  which  overflow  and  leave  nothing 
behind, — a  deceptive  delusive  glow  of  sentiment,  a  tempo- 
rary and  untrustworthy  excitement,  followed  by  reaction 
into  more  hopeless  apathy — unless  obedience  be  beneath 
— ^and  obedience  itself  based  on  the  rock  of  love — a  secret 
sympathy  and  affinity  with  God. 

If  God's  call  to  a  new  life  might  lead  the  reader 
to  immediate  and  unconditional   committal   to  the  will 


THE  INCREASE  OF  PERSONAL  HOLINESS    13 

of  God — to  a  final  break  with  the  world,  a  final  aban- 
donment of  all  known  sin,  however  seemingly  trivial; 
a  renunciation  of  all  doubtful  indulgences,  as  ''  not  of 
faith  "  and  therefore  "  sin  " — if  the  hesitating  and  un- 
believing would  take  the  step  into  the  overflowing  Jordan, 
and  test  God's  power  to  bring  them  in  and  make  the  prom- 
ises their  own,  what  fulness  of  blessing  might  come  to  a 
halting  church  and  a  revolted  world! 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  OXFORD  MOVEMENT  TOWARD  HOLINESS 

There  is  one  modern  contribution  both  to  the  literature 
and  the  life  of  holiness  which  is  attracting,  as  it  deserves, 
wider  attention  than  any  other  single  development  in  this 
direction ;  and  the  whole  history  connected  with  it  becomes 
correspondingly  important.  Its  results  have  already  a  far 
wider  range,  and  forecast  a  much  broader  future,  than 
most  of  us  realize.  One  who  was  as  well  qualified  to  sup- 
ply the  earlier  records  as  any  other,  and  who  recently 
passed  away  from  earth  at  an  age  past  three  score  and  ten, 
has  given  his  calm  judgment  on  "  The  genesis  of  the  Ox- 
ford movement  for  the  promotion  of  holiness."  We  give 
it  a  place  here,  for  he  was  intimately,  and  from  the  begin- 
ning, both  an  actor  in,  and  an  observer  of,  what  he  here 
puts  on  record. 

The  spiritual  history  of  the  coming  decades  in  England 
can  be  predicted  largely  from  the  spiritual  currents  among 
the  younger  men  of  the  universities.  The  "  High 
Church  "  or  "  Puseyite "  tidal  wave  was  rightly  called 
"  the  Oxford  movement.''  The  "  evangelical  impulse," 
given  mainly  by  Charles  Simeon,  was  similarly  called  "  the 
Cambridge  movement."  Succeeding,  or  parallel  to  this 
last,  was  a  radical  highly  Calvinistic  impulse  through  the 
unorganized  body  called  "  the  Plymouth  Brethren."  In 
the  well-known  book,  "  The  Fairchild  Family,"  by  Mrs. 
Sherwood,  one  may  find  the  evangelical  teaching  pressed 
to  its  extreme  and  least  attractive  forms,  and  in  the  numer- 
ous and  widely  circulated  publications  of  the  "  Plymouth 

14 


THE  OXFORD  MOVEMENT  15 

Brethren "  will  be  found  the  teaching  of  the  strongest 
doctrines  as  to  implicit  literal  "  obedience  to  the  Word," 
or  Scripture,  combined  with  strictest  Calvinistic  state- 
ments as  to  the  forensic  condition  of  the  believer,  as  an  un- 
alterable complete  state  of  grace.  The  influence  of  this 
latter  teaching  extended  through  both  the  Established 
Church  and  most  of  the  dissenting  bodies,  far  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  unorganized  Plymouth  Brethren  themselves, 
who,  without  formal  membership  or  denominational  sys- 
tem, met  "  to  break  bread,*'  as  they  termed  the  act  of 
communion. 

In  the  seventies,  the  first  generation  of  these  three  forms 
of  revival  was  passing  away,  and  the  successors,  who  had 
not  shared  the  deep  spiritual  crisis  in  which  the  High 
Church,  evangelical  and  Brethren  movements  originated, 
found  themselves  with  forms,  either  of  ritual,  or  of  doctrine, 
which,  dulled  by  use,  failed  to  meet  their  spiritual  needs 
as  they  had  supplied  those  of  their  predecessors.  There 
was  a  felt  lack  of,  and  a  great  hungering  for,  a  personal 
righteousness,  which  should  really  meet  their  too  often 
starving  spiritual  natures.  Taught  that  they  were  sacra- 
mentally  complete  by  absolution  on  one  hand,  or  judiciall}^ 
forensically,  perfect  by  forgiveness  of  sin  on  the  other, 
they  yet  found  themselves  unsatisfied,  with  no  well  of  liv- 
ing water  within,  as  promised  in  Scripture.  They  lived 
with  a  high  standard  of  holiness,  yet  under  frequent  or 
almost  constant  sense  of  condemnation  for  transgression. 
They  exaggerated  the  doctrine,  often  expressed  in  the 
words  "  black  but  comely ;  "  or,  as  they  would  state  in 
prayer-meetings,  they  were  "  from  the  crown  of  the  head 
to  the  sole  of  the  foot  full  of  bruises  and  putrefying  sores," 
while  yet  forgiven  saints,  and  by  imputation  "  whiter  than 
snow,"  and  ready  for  heaven  itself.  Their  supposed  ju- 
dicial standing  and  their  lives  of  practical  failure,  were  in 
startling  contrast. 


i6  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

In  this  condition  of  mind  numberless  tender-hearted 
Christians  found  a  sorrow  which  nothing  reached.  They 
felt  that  they  were  by  their  failures  continually  grieving 
the  One  in  all  the  universe  whom  they  loved  best,  and 
they  suffered  constantly  renewed  sorrow.  Saved,  as  they 
believed,  for  eternity,  from  the  penalty  of  sin,  they  were 
yet  in  many  respects  under  sin's  acknowledged  power. 
They  were  not  gross  sins,  but  sins  of  pride,  anger,  temper, 
censor iousness,  evil  thoughts ;  and  they  even  sometimes  felt 
that  some  around  them  who  made  no  Christian  profession 
were  more  free  from  failure  than  themselves. 

In  1873  a  series  of  papers  written  in  America  appeared 
in  a  London  weekly,  now  named  The  Christian,  which 
called  atttention  to  a  neglected  part  of  scriptural  teaching. 
This  teaching  was  that  Christ  came  to  save  His -people 
from  their  sins,  and  not  from  the  consequences  of  them 
only;  that  in  the  Epistles  His  offering  of  Himself  was 
oftener  stated  as  for  their  sanctification  than  even  for 
their  justification ;  that  '*  He  gave  Himself  for  us  that  He 
might  purify  unto  Himself  a  people,"  etc.  "  Who  His 
own  self  bore  our  sins  in  His  own  body  on  the  tree,  that 
we,  being  dead  to  sin,  should  live  unto  righteousness/'' 
This  was  felt  to  be  more  than  judicial  pardon  and  imputed 
righteousness.  One  part  of  the  Gospel  had  been  fully 
preached,  pardon  to  the  sinner,  forgiveness  to  the  repent- 
ant transgressor;  but  its  complement  of  a  practical,  con- 
tinuous victory  over  temptation,  equally  provided  in  the 
Gospel,  had  been  overlooked.  A  false  humility,  while 
boldly  claiming  pardon  for  sins,  overlooked  its  correlative 
victory  over  sin. 

These  "  views  "  in  The  Christian  deeply  affected  great 
numbers  of  spiritual  Christians,  and  when,  in  1873,  they 
were  emphasized  in  meetings,  beginning  in  the  rooms  of 
the  London  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  many 
were  greatly  changed  by  them  in  their  attitude  as  to  faith 


THE  OXFORD  MOVEMENT  17 

and  personal  consecration,  and  consequently  in  their 
lives. 

What  was  taught  was  simply  that  a  completed  conse- 
cration of  will  and  a  completed  trust  in  the  Word  of  Christ 
would  bring  the  Christian  into  a  realization  of  the  prom- 
ises of  victory  over  sin,  and  into  sustained  communion 
with  God ;  that  the  only  normal  condition  of  the  ''  be- 
liever "  was  that  of  full  belief ;  of  the  "  child  of  God," 
implicit  obedience.  That,  as  a  bird  cannot  rise  on  one 
wing,  so  in  both  full  trust  and  full  obedience  alone  could 
a  disciple  find  the  promises  of  victory  over  sin  a  continu- 
ing reality. 

What  gave  effect  to  this  teaching  was  the-  steady  in- 
sistence that  here  and  now,  even  while  this  simple  truth 
was  being  preached,  the  Christian  should  yield  his  too 
often  divided  will,  give  up  some  doubtful  or  consciously 
condemned  idol  or  practice,  and  commit  himself  to  an  un- 
reserved trust  and  obedience.  Often  it  was  like  death 
itself  to  renounce  something  more  or  less  clearly  known 
to  be  evil.  ''  I  would  die  if  I  gave  it  up,"  said  a  popular 
preacher,  referring  to  an  unhallowed  indulgence.  The 
reply  was,  '*  Life  to  a  Christian  is  not  a  necessity ;  obedi- 
ence is.  The  early  Christians  preferred  death  to  dis- 
obedience, and  so  must  you."  The  agony  almost  of  death 
was  in  his  countenance  as  he  said,  "  Then  I  renounce  it." 
The  battle  of  Waterloo  is  said  to  have  depended  on  the 
possession  of  a  small  cottage  as  a  key  to  the  contest.  It 
was  often  some  small  matter  in  which  the  will  was  en- 
trenched, and  till  this  was  yielded  full  trust  was  impos- 
sible; and,  conversely,  often  till  a  full  trust  was  exercised 
the  yielding  was  impossible.  How  near  souls  often  were 
to  the  Rock  and  knew  it  not !  A  man  descending  a  well  by 
a  rope  found  himself  at  the  end  of  the  line,  and  soon  his 
strength  began  to  fail.  He  could  not  climb  up,  and  to  let 
go  would  be,  he  supposed,  to  be  dashed  to  pieces.     At 


i8  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

length  he  could  hold  on  no  longer,  and  dropped.  The  dis- 
tance to  the  rock  was — three  inches!  How  often  have  we 
seen  the  spiritual  counterpart  of  this  scene ! 

Words  can  but  imperfectly  describe  the  joy  and  spiritual 
power  which  came  through  the  extension  of  these  meet- 
ings to  thousands  of  clergymen  and  religious  teachers,  and 
to  Christians  in  less  conspicuous  conditions.  By  the  lib- 
eral kindness  of  Samuel  Morley,  the  Member  of  Parlia- 
ment for  Bristol,  a  leading  Congregationalist,  a  series  of 
breakfasts  were  given  in  London  in  1874-75  for  ministers, 
which  were  attended  by  twenty-four  hundred  preachers, 
mostly  at  breakfast-tables  of  thirty  or  forty  in  a  morning. 
Continuous  meetings  of  a  few  days  at  a  time  were  held  in 
London  and  the  provinces  and  in  various  cities  on  the 
Continent;  and,  in  1874,  in  response  to  the  request  of  a 
number  of  young  men  at  the  University  of  Cambridge,  the 
late  Lord  Mount-Temple  opened  his  country  seat,  "  Broad- 
lands,"  widely  known  as  the  residence  of  the  late  Lord 
Palmerston,  for  a  meeting  of  ten  days.  This  was  by  pri- 
vate invitation,  and  so  great  was  the  blessing  found,  that 
it  was  felt  that  another  and  larger  meeting  must  be  con- 
vened. This  resulted  in  a  meeting  at  Oxford  of  clergy- 
men of  the  Establishment,  as  well  as  preachers  and  mem- 
bers of  the  various  churches,  about  a  thousand  in  number, 
gathered  from  all  parts  of  England.  At  this  "  Conven- 
tion "  many  pastors  were  also  present  from  the  Continent ; 
and  similar  meetings  were  held  later  in  France,  Belgium, 
Holland,  Switzerland,  and  Germany,  which  were  crowded, 
sometimes  the  addresses  being  repeated  twice  in  the  same 
evening  to  as  many  as  six  thousand  hearers.  Every- 
where the  same  remarkable  results  in  the  revival  of  the 
Christian  life  were  realized.  In  France,  Theodore  Monod, 
in  Switzerland,  Pastor  Stockmeyer,  and  in  other  countries 
others  held  similar  "conventions,"  or  "retreats"  upon 
the  same  model. 


THE  OXFORD  MOVEMENT  19 

In  1875  a  yet  larger  meeting  of  ten  days  was  held  at 
Brighton,  attended  by  about  six  thousand  persons,  among 
whom  were  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  pastors  from 
Italy,  Germany,  Switzerland,  Sweden,  Norway,  Belgium, 
Holland,  and  France,  and  also  the  venerable  Bishop  Gobat 
of  Jerusalem. 

And  now,  after  twenty-five  years,  there  are  still  held 
annually  in  England,  many  such  "  retreats  "  or  ''  conven- 
tions "  on  a  similar  plan  of  three-day  to  ten-day  continuous 
services.  The  one  at  Keswick,  established  by  the  Rev. 
Canon  Battersby,  is  widely  known.  The  one  at  Guilford 
collects  about  five  thousand  persons  annually.  From  many 
countries  on  the  Continent  continual  reports  come  of  con- 
tinuous blessing  still  attributed  to  this  movement.  At 
Nancy,  for  twenty  years  a  pastor  has  held  a  weekly  meet- 
ing as  a  remembrance  and  continuation  of  the  blessings 
received  at  Brighton. 

This  spontaneous,  unorganized  movement,  so  far  as  is 
known,  never  resulted  in  a  change  of  the  Church  connec- 
tion of  a  single  individual  from  that  in  which  it  found 
him.  It  gave  him  power  to  work  in  the  sphere  in  which 
he  already  lived.  The  establishment  of  a  new  denomina- 
tion was  confidently  predicted  by  some,  but  its  announced 
object  was  not  a  change  of  either  doctrine  or  organiza- 
tion, but  a  revival  of  living  faith  in  truths  already  ac- 
cepted, and  in  full  practical  obedience  within  spheres  al- 
ready found. 

All  this  was  without  public  emotional  expression,  indi- 
cation of  physical  excitement,  not  even  a  single  Amen !  be- 
ing spoken  aloud.  Those  who  led  it,  as  it  happened,  did  not 
need  pecuniary  support,  and  with  little  mention  of  needs 
for  rents  of  halls  and  traveling  expenses  of  Continental 
pastors,  there  was  a  surplus  of  many  thousands  of  pounds 
of  voluntary  contributions,  while  no  portion  of  a  guaranty 
fund    of    twenty-five    hundred    pounds    was    required. 


20  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Seventy  ushers  waited  on  the  meetings  at  Brighton,  held 
in  several  languages,  from  seven  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing almost  continually  till  ten  at  night.  The  civic  cor- 
poration gave  three  large  halls  and  many  rooms  for  the 
purpose,  free  of  charge. 

Among  other  results,  a  great  and  continuous  impulse 
has  been  given  the  missionary  movement,  through  the 
completed  obedience  and  faith  of  Christians  attending 
these  "  consecration  meetings."  Perhaps,  the  results  were 
larger  in  Germany  than  in  England.  A  German  theo- 
logical professor  has  said  that,  as  Justification  by  Faith 
had  once  been  established  in  German  theology,  so  now 
sanctification  by  faith  has  likewise  been  largely  accepted. 
In  various  quarters  a  great  impulse  was  given  by  this 
wave,  to  missionary  work,  the  dedication  of  the  will,  the 
central  thought  of  it  all,  leading  to  this  form  of  service  in 
large  numbers  of  cases. 

When  Mrs.  Catherine  Booth  was  dying  she  said  to 
Mr.  Edward  Clifford,  who  was  much  with  her,  that  the 
Oxford-Brighton  movement  was  one  of  the  principal 
means  of  the  establishment  of  the  work  of  the  Salvation 
Army,  or  rather  an  aid  to  it.  It  brought  the  great  num- 
ber of  the  upper  classes  who  have  been  effectually  reached, 
into  sympathy  with  the  Salvation  Army,  the  central  power 
of  which  was  the  same — a  completed  consecration  and  a 
full  faith.  Curiously,  therefore  the  "  High  Church  "  were 
reached  at  one  end,  and  the  "  Free  Methodists  "  at  the 
other.  And  yet  more  curiously,  it  was  the  means  of  for- 
warding the  agnostic  "  Peoples'  Church  "  through  an  at- 
tendant at  Brighton,  who,  in  a  joyous  sense  of  a  yielded 
will,  and  full  trust,  feeling  the  force  of  the  historical  dif- 
ficulties in  Christianity,  tho  he  seemed  as  earnest,  sincere, 
consecrated  and  true  in  heart  as  ever,  felt  led  with  the 
same  sort  of  personal  devotioi^  to  making  a  church  for 
the  large  class  of  morally  good  men  among  the  working 


THE  OXFORD  MOVEMENT  21 

classes  whom  he  found  seemingly  incapable  of  Christian 
faith,  in  its  historical  sense,  and  he  formed  congregations 
out  of  such.  Many  such  men  acknowledge  that  the  spirit- 
ual leverage, — the  power  to  immediately  and  greatly  move 
souls  to  make  a  choice — is  wanting.  In  one  of  George  Mac- 
donald's  novels  he  makes  the  typical  "  broad  "  doctrine  cu- 
rate effect  only  a  modification  of  a  carpenter's  cynical  views 
of  life!  Sudden  and  effectual  conversion — the  ordinary 
work  to  be  wrought  by  evangelical  preaching — is  not  in  it, 
though  he  had  the  novelist's  choice. 

The  essence  of  Christianity  seems  to  lie^  not  so  much 
in  doctrine,  even  historical,  as  in  the  surrender  of  the  will 
and  effectual  realization  of  the  real  Fatherhood  of  God 
and  Brotherhood  of  Christ:  and  one  burns  to  have  these 
things  proclaimed  in  power,  and  souls  brought  out  of  that 
misery  of  a  conscience  quickened  while  yet  there  is  a 
divided  heart — into  the  joyous  obedience  of  a  realized  son- 
ship.  This  is  the  truth  which  has  formed  "  the  church 
within  the  church  "  in  all  the  ages — the  inner  church 
which  instructed  Luther  and  the  great  apostles  of  the 
faith, —  even  while  some  of  them  rejected  the  form  it  took. 

It  would  not  be  well  to  close  this  notice  of  the  movement 
without  stating  what  is  not  meant  by  the  teaching  above 
described.  Everywhere  anxiety  prevailed  among  good 
Christians  lest  it  should  mean  "  sinless  perfection."  Per- 
haps our  danger  lies  more  in  sinful  imperfection,  but  yet 
it  is  an  honest  anxiety  based  on  occasional  fanaticisms. 
The  wine  of  the  Kingdom,  like  earthly  wine,  proves  some- 
times too  much  for  ill-balanced  souls.  It  was  interesting 
to  see  persons  coming  to  these  meetings  full  of  the  expecta- 
tion of  hearing  "  sinless  perfection  "  preached,  and  then 
to  note  their  surprise  as  a  speaker  opened  with  the  words, 
"  Perhaps  no  one  has  ever  accurately  defined  and  limited 
the  term  Sin.  If  it  be  the  coming  short  of  the  absolute 
holiness  of  the  Divine,  I  sin  in  every  breath  I  draw."  Such 


21  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

hearers  would  look  in  surprise  at  one  another,  and  the 
speaker  would  continue :  ''  But  if  continuous,  conscious 
trespass  be  made  the  necessary  inevitable  condition  of  the 
Christian ;  if  he,  by  the  law  of  his  existence,  as  a  follower 
of  Christ,  must  continuously  and  inevitably  grieve  Him 
whom  he  loves  best  in  all  the  universe;  if  the  fence  be- 
tween sinners  sinning  and  saints  obeying  be  thrown 
down ;  if  Christ  did  not  die  to  redeem  us  all  from  iniquity, 
and  purify  us  unto  Himself,  to  save  us  from  our  sins, 
then  is  the  Gospel  a  failure  as  regards  this  life,  and  the 
will  of  God  is  not  our  sanctification."  Yet  no  one  can  claim 
deliverance  from  sin  in  any  other  sense  than  victory  over 
known,  discovered  sin.  Had  we  the  insight  of  angels,  we 
could  not  take  one  step  in  our  confused  surroundings 
without  conscious  sin.  But  from  known  sin,  from  dis- 
cerned evil,  one  may  find  deliverance  in  Christ,  And  as 
we  walk  in  the  light  and  in  obedience,  each  day  shows 
us  more  of  evil  to  be  avoided.  In  to-day's  light  yesterday's 
sin  of  ignorance  may  become  one  of  knowledge,  to  be  now 
conquered.  No  wise  person  will  boast  that  he  has  not 
sinned  for  such  and  such  a  time.  But  he  may  say,  that  to 
the  utmost  of  his  trust  is  his  victory  over  known  sin ;  and 
that  so  far  as  he  does  not  trust,  in  so  far  he  fails.  In 
such  a  life,  the  moment  of  confession  of  sin  is  the  moment 
of  realized  pardon,  and  also  of  power  to  avoid  its  repeti- 
tion. 

Wherein,  then,  does  the  present  life  of  those  who  have 
found  this  blessing  differ  from  former  experience  ?  It  dif- 
fers, first  in  not  expecting  to  sin,  and  not  making  provision 
for  the  flesh  to  fulfil  the  lusts  thereof;  and  then,  in  the 
courage  of  faith,  that  secret  of  victory,  and  the  coincidence 
of  our  wish  or  will  with  what  we  as  yet  know  of  God's  will, 
which  makes  a  habit  of  victory  and  obedience. 

You  claim  an  undivided  allegiance  to  your  country,  en- 
tire loyalty  to  your  wife,  complete  affection  for  your  chil- 


THE  OXFORD  MOVEMENT  2j 

dren — is  it  impossible  to  have,  as  to  the  totaHty  of  your 
condition,  equally  true  relations  to  God?  Must  you  be 
partly  a  rebel,  an  adulterer,  indifferent  to  your  children? 
Nay,  even  tho  there  be  momentary  failure,  the  trend  of 
your  being,  the  habit  of  your  life,  the  current  of  your  ex- 
istence, may — nay,  must — be  henceforth  allegiance,  loy- 
alty, love.  Then  you  no  longer  are  under  law — a  sense 
of  compulsion,  a  contest  of  inclination,  but  your  will,  now 
completely  yielded,  becomes  henceforth  that  of  God. 

"  I  worship  Thee,  sweet  Will  of  God, 
And  all  Thy  ways  adore, 
And  every  day  I  live,  I  learn 
To  love  Thee  more  and  more." 


CHAPTER  III 

KESWICK  TEACHING 

Keswick  is  a  town  of  Cumberland,  England,  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  Greta,  some  twenty-four  miles  from 
Carlisle,  and  having  a  population  of  from  three  thousand 
to  four  thousand.  It  has  no  importance  commercially,  tho 
its  manufactures  indicate  industry  and  its  two  museums 
index  intelligence.  In  this  Lake  District,  forever  famous 
by  association  with  Coleridge,  Southey  and  the  poets  of 
the  Lake  School,  Keswick's  vale  is  unsurpassed  for  pictur- 
esque beauty  and  fascinating  scenery. 

But  Keswick  is  yet  better  known  by  the  annual  conven- 
tion of  believers  already  referred  to,  which  meets  there  an- 
nually, during  the  last  week  in  July,  and  during  the  whole 
year  more  or  less  radiates  blessed  influence  through  the  em- 
pire and  the  world.  More  than  twenty-five  years  ago  that 
remarkable  movement  began  in  Britain,  which  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter  was  traced  to  its  beginning,  and  which  has 
ever  since  been  in  progress,  a  sort  of  modern  Pentecost, 
whose  depth  of  meaning  and  breadth  of  influence  were  un- 
known and  unsuspected  at  first,  even  by  the  movers  of  it. 

An  American  evangelist,  R.  Pearsall  Smith,  a  man 
whose  tracts  and  addresses  have  for  many  years  been  a 
stimulus  to  holy  living,  was,  with  his  wife,  Hannah  Whit- 
hall  Smith,  providentially  among  those  who  were  connected 
with  the  inception  of  the  movement. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  God  seldom  moves  only  on  one 
section  of  the  Church,  or  in  one  locality,  alone.  Simulta- 
neous quickenings  commonly  take  place  in  various  parts 

24 


KESWICK  TEACHING  25 

of  the  world,  as  the  reinvigoration  df  a  human  body  would 
show  itself  in  different  members  and  even  at  the  opposite 
extremities,  at  the  same  time. 

These  various  conventions,  across  the  sea,  were  held,  as 
we  have  seen,  in  1874,  at  Broadlands,  July  17-23,  and  at 
Oxford,  August  8  to  September  i,  then  at  Brighton,  May 
29  to  June  7,  1875,  and  the  first  Keswick  Convention  fol- 
lowed, from  June  29  to  July  2  of  the  same  year.  With  the 
convening  of  the  last  mentioned,  the  lamented  Canon  Bat- 
tersby  is  inseparably  connected,  who,  as  he  wanted  a  lay- 
man to  cooperate,  invited  Mr.  Robert  Wilson  to  join  him. 
The  first  Keswick  Convention  was  attended  by  between 
three  hundred  and  four  hundred.  The  Brighton  gathering 
was  for  ten  days,  and  from  6,000  to  8,000  were  present. 

About  the  time  when  these  meetings  were  held  in  rapid 
succession  in  Britain  and  on  the  continent,  there  were  in 
more  than  one  quarter  in  the  United  States  similar  gather- 
ings, as  at  Oberlin,  Ohio,  and  in  Maine,  on  the  borders 
of  Canada,  where  a  great  company  assembled  for  purposes 
akin  to  that  of  the  British  meetings,  40,000  special  rail- 
way tickets  being  sold  in  connection  with  the  Maine  con- 
ference alone. 

Rev.  Evan  H.  Hopkins,  who  has  been  closely  identified 
with  the  Keswick  meetings  for  years,  has  briefly  written 
the  history  of  this  movement.  *    He  says : 

During  1873,  small  meetings  were  held  in  London,  where  great 
and  definite  blessings  were  realized  by  a  few.  These  led  to  larger 
gatherings,  and  in  the  year  1874  special  meetings  for  consecration, 
for  two  or  three  days  at  a  time,  were  held  at  the  Mildmay  Con- 
ference Hall,  and  at  the  Hanover  Square  Rooms.  These  were 
followed  by  similar  meetings  in  Dublin,  Manchester,  Nottingham, 
and  Leicester.  On  the  Continent,  too,  meetings  for  the  same  pur- 
pose and  on  exactly  similar  lines  were  held.  The  result  was  that 
very  many  of  God's  children,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  were 
awakened  to  a  deep  sense  of  need,  and  to  an  expectation  of  larger 

*  Life  of  Faith.    July  22,  1896. 


26  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

and  more  definite  blessing,  such  as  they  had  never  conceived  pos- 
sible in  this  life.  The  uplifting  of  soul  experienced  by  many  was 
one  of  the  most  striking  features  of  the  movement,  and  the  effect 
of  their  testimony  upon  those  who  came  within  the  sphere  of  their 
influence,  was  one  of  the  chief  factors  in  arousing  the  Church  to 
seek  the  realization  of  its  privileges  in  the  matter  of  triumph,  use- 
fulness, and  power. 

In  the  summer  of  1874,  the  first  convention  at  Broadlands  was 
held.  Its  origin  was  in  the  desire  that  a  number  of  young  uni- 
versity men,  who  had  found  partial  blessing  in  some  meetings 
for  consecration  held  at  Cambridge,  should  have  a  few  days  of 
quiet  meditation  and  prayer  in  some  secluded  spot,  keeping  be- 
fore them  the  following  definite  aim :  The  Scriptural  possibilities 
of  the  Christian  life,  as  to  maintained  communion  with  the  Lord 
and  victory  over  all  known  sin.  The  plan  was  extended  to  the 
invitation  of  about  a  hundred  persons  for  six  days — July  17  to  23. 

Such  was  the  absorbing  interest  felt  by  all,  that  no  difficulty 
was  found  in  gathering  the  guests  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing; and  it  was  an  effort  to  separate  when  the  breakfast  hour  of 
nine  came.  At  ten  o'clock  conversational  meetings  were  held, 
Bibles  in  hand,  in  different  places  through  the  grounds,  and  at 
eleven  o'clock  there  was  prayer,  with  singing  and  addresses. 
Meetings  for  ladies  only  were  also  held;  and  at  three  o'clock 
conversational  meetings,  followed  by  a  general  gathering  at  four; 
and  after  tea  Bible-readings,  till  the  regular  evening  meeting. 
The  manifested  presence  and  power  of  God  pervaded  every  meet- 
ing, and  many  stated  that  the  long  periods  of  silent  prayer  had 
been  to  them  the  most  solemn  and  helpful  seasons  of  their  spiritual 
life. 

One  wrote  at  the  time :  "  We  began  with  the  negative  side, 
renunciation  of  discerned  evil,  and  even  of  doubtful  things  which 
are  not  of  faith,  and  therefore  sin.  For  some  days  the  company 
was  held  under  the  searching  light  of  God,  to  see  and  to  remove 
any  obstacles  to  a  divine  communion,  or  aught  that  frustrated  the 
grace  of  God.  We  sought  to  have  that  which  was  true  in  God 
as  to  our  judicial  standing  in  a  risen  Christ,  also  true  in  personal 
appropriation  and  experience.  Many  secret  sins,  many  a  scarcely 
recognized  reserve  as  to  entire  self-renunciation,  were  here 
brought  up  into  the  light  of  consciousness  and  put  away  in  the 
presence  of  the  Lord.  We  desired  to  make  thorough  work,  so  as 
to  have  no  known  evil  or  self-will  unyielded;  and  we  took  the 
position  of  solemn  purpose  to  renounce  instantly  everything  in 


KESWICK  TEACHING  17 

which  we  should  find  ourselves  '  otherwise  minded/  as  from 
time  to  time  '  God  shall  reveal  even  this  unto  us.' 

"  In  the  intervals  of  the  meetings  it  was  interesting  to  see 
groups  gathered,  in  the  more  secluded  places  in  the  woods  by  the 
river,  on  their  knees,  praying,  searching  the  Scriptures,  or  speak- 
ing earnestly  to  each  other  of  the  all-absorbing  subject  of  our 
meetings.  Some  one  had  proposed  to  have  reading  at  the  meal- 
times, so  as  to  concentrate  our  minds;  but  no  such  plan  was 
needed  to  keep  the  company,  even  at  times  of  refreshment,  to  the 
one  engrossing  subject." 

In  a  letter  received  from  Pasteur  Theodore  Monod  at  the  time, 
reference  is  made  to  this  memorable  occasion.  He  says :  "  The 
difference  between  those  Broadlands  meetings  and  many  others 
that  I  have  attended  is  just  the  difference  between  a  flower  and 
the  name  of  a  flower.  Christians  too  often  meet  only  to  talk 
about  good  and  precious  things :  peace,  joy,  love,  and  so  on ;  but 
there  we  actually  had  the  very  things  themselves.  I  cannot  be 
grateful  enough  to  God  for  having  led  me  into  such  a  soul-satis- 
fying and  God-glorifying  faith.  I  think  I  may  say  that  I  got  all 
that  I  expected,  and  more.  And  I  begin  to  suspect  that  we  al- 
ways get  from  God  everything — provided  it  be  good  for  us — that 
we  ask  for,  expecting  to  get  it.  Oh,  for  self-forgetting  faith, 
that  I  may  have  more  and  more  and  more  of  it,  and  that  the 
Church  of  Christ  may  cease  to  grieve  Him,  distress  herself,  and 
hinder  the  coming  of  His  Kingdom,  by  disbelieving  His  Word! 
My  French  companions  have  all  derived  much  benefit  from  the 
Conference.  God  be  praised  for  His  work!  Never  mind  the 
world,  nor  the  devil,  so  long  as  you  have  the  sunshine  of  Jesus* 
smile  in  your  heart." 

During  this  Convention  our  brother  Monod  wrote  the  now 
well-known  hymn,  "  The  Altered  Motto :  " 

Oh !  the  bitter  shame  and  sorrow 
That  a  time  could  ever  be. 
When  I  let  the  Savior's  pity 
Plead  in  vain,  and  proudly  answered, 
"  All  of  self  and  none  of  Thee." 

It  was  only  a  short  time  before  this  hymn  was  written  that 
our  brother  entered  into  the  "  fulness  of  blessing." 

The  account  of  the  Broadlands  Conference  was  read  far  and 
wide,  and  awakened  considerable  interest.    Many  who  had  never 


28  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

attended  any  meetings  of  the  kind  were  led  to  cry  to  God  for  the 
fulness  of  the  Spirit,  with  an  expectation  and  earnestness  of  de- 
sire they  had  never  before  known.  At  the  close  of  the  meetings 
one  said,  "  We  must  repeat  these  meetings  on  a  larger  scale, 
where  all  who  desire  can  attend."  And  one  of  the  guests  vol- 
unteered £500  toward  the  expenses  of  this  effort  But  none  of 
this  money  was  found  to  be  necessary  when  the  proposal  was 
actually  carried  out  in  the  conference  that  followed.  So  abun- 
dant were  the  offerings  that  large  sums  remained  over  actual 
expenses,  to  be  devoted  to  the  extension  of  the  movement  on 
the  Continent. 

It  was  suggested  by  the  late  beloved  Sir  Arthur  Blackwood, 
who  was  present  at  Broadlands,  that  this  proposed  convention 
should  be  held  at  Oxford  during  the  vacation,  and  it  was  accord- 
ingly held  from  August  29  to  September  7,  1874.  The  details  of 
the  meetings  were  settled  during  a  mission  week  in  August,  at 
Langley  Park,  the  seat  of  the  late  Sir  Thomas  Beauchamp,  Bart, 
near  Norwich,  who,  having  received  great  blessing  himself  in  a 
similar  meeting  the  previous  year,  again  gathered  about  forty 
clergymen,  and  many  others,  for  five  days'  waiting  upon  God 
for  consecration  and  prayer.  The  invitation  to  the  "  Oxford 
Union  Meetings  for  the  Promotion  of  Scriptural  Holiness,"  was 
issued  on  the  8th  of  August,  1874.  Tho  the  notice  was  so  short, 
a  large  and  representative  number  of  Christians  came  from  all 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  as  well  as  a  great  many  pastors  from  the 
Continent. 

An  able  review  that  appeared  immediately  after,  will  give  some 
idea  of  the  deep  impression  made  during  those  ten  days  at  Ox- 
ford:— 

" '  God  hath  visited  His  people.'  If  any  one  had  said  a  year 
ago  that  we  should  see,  in  Oxford,  an  assembly  of  Christians, 
very  largely  composed  of  ministers  of  the  Establishment  and 
various  Nonconformist  bodies,  and  including  twenty  or  thirty 
Continental  pastors,  gathered  for  the  purpose  of  seeking,  by 
mutual  counsel  and  united  prayer  and  consecration,  to  reach  a 
higher  condition  of  Christian  life,  it  would  have  been  considered 
far  more  devoutly-to-be-wished  than  likely  to  occur.  And  if  it 
had  been  added  that  we  should  see  early  morning  meetings  of 
nearly  a  thousand  of  these  men  and  women,  of  all  ranks  in 
society,  and  of  all  denominations,  gathered  in  prayer,  and  for 
the  communication  of  their  experiences  in  the  divine  life,  clergy- 
men and  laymen  standing  up  and  declaring  what  God  had  done 


KESWICK  TEACHING  29 

for  their  souls,  there  would,  have  been  not  a  few  to  say,  '  If  the 

Lord  would  open  windows  in  heaven  might  such  a  thing  be ! ' 

But  God  has  opened  the  windows  of  heaven,  and  is  pouring  out 

a  blessing  that  there  shall  not  '  be  room  to  receive  it.'     And  not 

only  so,  but  '  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world 

to   confound   the   wise;   and   the  weak  things   to   confound  the 

things   which   are   mighty;    that   no   flesh   should   glory   in    His 

presence.* 

***** 

"  We  have  attended  many  conferences,  but  in  many  respects 
this  excelled  them  all.  It  is  the  fruit  and  flower  of  those  which 
have  gone  before — of  those  at  Barnet,  and  Mildmay,  and  Perth, 
and  other  places  at  home,  as  well  as  of  Mannheim,  and  Vineland 
and  Round  Lake,  in  the  United  States.  Conferences  must  be  of 
another  type  henceforth. 

"  If  it  be  asked,  What  is  *  the  blessing? '  it  is  the  blessedness  of 
the  man  '  who  maketh  the  Lord  his  trust,'  '  whose  strength  is 
in  Thee ; '  of  them  who  have  not  seen  and  yet  have  believed,  who 
stand  by  night  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  trusting  where  they 
cannot  see  Him,  who  present  their  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy, 
acceptable  to  God,  their  reasonable  service,  and  who,  doing  this, 
are  not  conformed  to  this  world,  but  are  daily  being  transformed, 
by  the  renewing  of  their  minds,  that  they  may  know  what  that 
good  and  acceptable  and  perfect  will  of  the  Lord  is." 

At  this  Oxford  Convention  the  late  Canon  Harford-Battersby 
himself  entered  into  *'  the  rest  of  faith."  But  for  this  event  the 
now  well-known  Keswick  Convention  would  never  have  had  a  be- 
ginning.* 

Very  soon  after,  similar  meetings  on  a  smaller  scale,  but  on 
the  same  lines,  were  held  at  Stroud,  and  two  brethren  who  had 
taken  part  at  the  Oxford  meetings  conducted  this  Conference, 
and  the  Rev.  Preb.  Webb-Peploe  was  amongst  the  listeners.  He 
had  not  been  able  to  attend  the  Oxford  Conference,  and  we  think 
it  was  only  at  the  Stroud  Conference,  or  soon  after,  that  he  him- 
self definitely  entered  into  the  blessing  of  the  more  abundant 
life.  The  Cheltenham  Conference  followed  the  Stroud  Conven- 
tion, and  there  for  the  first  time  he  actually  took  part  in  the 
movement. 

The  next  great  series  of  meetings  was  the  wonderful  Brighton 

*  "  Canon  Harford-Battersby  and  the  Keswick  Convention,"  edited  by 
two  of  his  sons.    (Seeley  &  Co.,  London.) 


30  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Convention,  held  in  the  Pavilion  at  Brighton,  from  May  29  to 
June  7,  1875.  There  some  eight  thousand  people,  the  greater 
part  earnest,  well-instructed  Christians,  met  together  for  ten  days 
in  prayer,  meditation,  and  waiting  upon  God.  Addresses  were 
given  there  during  those  days,  which  live  to  this  day  in  the 
memories  of  those  who  heard  them,  and  have  been  the  means 
of  lasting  blessing  to  thousands.  Everywhere — at  home  and 
abroad — we  meet  with  the  abiding  fruits  of  this  memorable  gather- 
ing. It  was  at  this  Convention  Canon  Battersby  arranged  for  the 
first  Convention  at  Keswick,  to  take  place  in  July  of  that  year. 

In  looking  back  upon  the  years  that  have  elapsed  since  then,  it 
would  be  interesting  to  be  able  to  note  the  various  names  of 
those  who  now  take  part  in  this  great  gathering  at  Keswick,  and 
to  record  the  particular  year,  and  circumstances,  when  they  each 
saw  for  the  first  time  the  truth  of  a  fuller  life.  It  canot  be  too 
clearly  stated  that  those  who  are  asked  to  speak  at  this  and  other 
similar  conventions  are  those,  only,  who  can  bear  testimony  to 
a  definite  experience  of  the  fulness  of  blessing. 

Every  year  at  the  Keswick  Convention  numbers  of  God's  chil- 
dren are  brought  into  a  realization  of  their  resources  in  Christ, 
such  as  they  have  never  before  thought  possible;  and  this  has 
given  a  strength  and  brightness  to  their  lives  which  have  been 
felt  by  others  around  them.  In  this  way  the  movement  has  been 
continually  advancing  and  deepening,  so  that  its  influence  is 
seen  to-day  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 

So  writes  Mr.  Hopkins.  In  Brighton,  to-day  many 
may  be  found  who  were  present  at  the  conference  held 
there  in  1875.  In  a  sense,  the  greater  part  knew  not 
wherefore  they  were  come  together,  except  that  there  was 
a  general  and  widespread  longing  and  expectancy  for  a 
new  and  singular  bestowment  of  Power  from  on  high. 
Worldliness,  formalism,  apathy,  selfishness  in  the  Church, 
were  so  apparent  and  so  alarming,  that  devout  believers 
were  driven  to  the  Throne  of  Grace  to  seek  help  from  God. 
Throughout  the  whole  convention  at  Brighton  this  bless- 
ing was  wonderfully  realized.  While  engaged  in  prayer 
the  Holy  Spirit  mysteriously  laid  hold  on  men  and  women, 
and  they  were  swayed  as  by  a  rushing,  mighty  wind. 


KESWICK  TEACHING  31 

Prayer  became  more  earnest,  importunate,  believing,  pre- 
vailing, and  some  new  force  was  manifestly  controlling. 
The  first  fruits  were  found  in  a  distinct  entrance  into 
newness  of  life  on  the  part  of  many,  hitherto  religiously 
cold  or  conventional,  hampered  by  forms,  exclusive,  un- 
charitable, inconsistent,  and  without  power  as  witnesses. 
Clergymen  of  the  Anglican  Church  were  among  the  prom- 
inent parties  receiving  Divine  enduement.  At  the  time  no 
one  suspected  the  real  import  of  this  Divine  visitation,  and 
hence  the  early  history  of  it  has  somewhat  inadequate  rec- 
ords. *  It  is,  however,  remembered  by  all  those  who  had 
a  share  in  it  as  a  very  unusual  and  quite  indescribable 
manifestation  of  spiritual  quickening  and  power.  Such 
a  meeting  would  of  course  be  the  mother  of  others,  and 
hence  the  subsequent  "  Keswick  "  meetings. 

These  found  both  suggestion  and  warm  support  in  the 
Vicar  of  Keswick,  the  late  Canon  Battersby,  by  whose 
influence  they  became  connected  with,  and  located  at,  that 
beautiful  spot.  While  he  lived,  he  presided,  the  presidency 
then  passing  by  a  general  assent  to  Mr.  Henry  Howker, 
and  at  his  death  to  Mr.  Robert  Wilson^  and  without  any 
fixed  committee  of  leadership,  or  definite  arrangement  of 
man,  it  remains  with  Mr.  Wilson,  so  far  as  any  human 
hand  is  on  the  helm. 

Keswick  stands  for  a  peculiar  type  of  spiritual  teaching 
and  life.  Those  only  who  understand  and  exhibit  it  are 
asked  to  take  part.  To  a  singular  extent  no  deference  is 
paid  to  men,  however  high  their  social  or  ecclesiastical 
position.  The  most  renowned  minister,  evangelist  or  theo- 
logical professor  might  happen  in  a  meeting,  but  would 
be  asked  to  speak  only  as  he  was  believed  to  have  been  led 
out  into  this  sort  of  spiritual  experience  and  teaching. 

•  "  Record  of  the  Convention  for  the  Promotion  of  Scriptural  Holiness," 
held  at  Brighton,  1875.  London,  S.  W.  Partridge  &.  Co.,  and  "Account  of 
the  Union  Meeting,"  etc.,  at  Oxford,  1874.    P.  H.  Revell,  Chicago. 


32  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

The  first  Keswick  Convention  lasted  four  days,  and  was 
held  in  a  building;  but,  as  the  meetings  became  more 
largely  attended,  they  were  transferred  to  a  tent.  The 
present  tent  holds  about  3,000,  but  often  10,000  attend  in 
course  of  the  convention. 

As  many  who  are  deeply  interested  cannot  hope  to  at- 
tend these  great  gatherings,  it  may  be  well  to  ask  and  an- 
swer two  questions,  briefly : 

What  is  the  exact  type  of  Keswick  teaching  and 
method  ? 

What  are  the  actual  results  reached? 

The  Type  of  Keswick  Teaching. — This  is  definite,  com- 
plete, comprehensive,  and  progressive.  It  has  a  begin- 
ning, middle,  and  culmination.  Seven  successive  stages 
may  perhaps  be  indicated,  all  of  them  important,  and  sub- 
stantially in  the  following  order  : 

1.  Immediate  abandonment  of  every  known  sin,  doubt- 
ful indulgence,  or  conscious  hindrance  to  holy  living. 
Rom.  vi.  12-14,  xiii.  12-14,  xiv.  21-23  >  Heb.  xii.  i,  2. 

2.  Surrender  of  the  will  and  the  whole  being  to  Jesus 
Christ  as  not  only  Savior,  but  Master  and  Lord,  in  loving 
and  complete  obedience.  Rom.  x.  9  (R.  V.),  xii.  i ;  i  Cor. 
xii.  3. 

3.  Appropriation  by  faith  of  God's  promise  and  power 
for  holy  living.  Rom.  iv.  20-25,  vi.  11,  vii.  24,  25^  viii. 
I,  2  (R.  V.)  ;  2  Pet.  i.  4;  Heb.  viii.  10. 

4.  Voluntary  renunciation  and  mortification  of  the  self- 
life,  that  centers  in  self-indulgence  and  self-dependence, 
that  God  may  be  all  in  all.  Gal.  ii.  19,  20,  iv.  24;  Col.  iii. 
5;  2  Cor.  V.  15. 

5.  Gracious  renewal  or  transformation  of  the  inmost 
temper  and  disposition.  Rom.  xii.  2 ;  Eph.  iv.  23 ;  i  Pet. 
iii.  4. 

6.  Separation  unto  God  for  sanctification,  consecration 
and  service.    2  Cor.  vi.  14,  vii.  i ;  2  Tim.  ii.  19-21. 


KESWICK  TEACHING  33 

7.  Enduement  with  power  and  infilling  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  believer  claiming  his  share  in  the  Pentecostal 
gift.   Luke  xxiv.  49 ;  Acts  i.  8 ;  Eph.  v.  18. 

The  obvious  basis  of  all  this  teaching  is  the  conviction 
that  the  average  Christian  life  is  grievotisly  destitute  of 
real  spiritual  power  and  often  essentially  carnal ;  and  that 
it  is  the  duty  and  privilege  of  every  child  of  God  at  once 
to  enter  into  newness  of  life,  and  walk  henceforth  in  the 
power  of  Christ's  resurrection.  A  few  leading  teachings 
should  be  emphasized. 

First,  the  starting-point — instant  abandonment  of  sin, 
and  of  every  known  weight  which  prevents  or  hinders 
progress.  Whatever  is  wrong  or  believed  to  be  wrong  in 
God's  sight  cannot  be  indulged  for  one  moment  with  im- 
punity ;  it  is  utterly  destructive  of  all  holy  living  and  testi- 
mony, unnecessary  because  wrong,  and  makes  impossible 
even  the  clear  assurance  of  salvation.  Moreover,  how  can 
we  lead  out  others  into  a  life  we  have  not  ourselves  found  ? 
How  can  one  help  a  sinner  to  salvation  unless  he  knows 
he  is  saved  ?  To  continue  one  moment  in  what  is  felt  to  be 
sin  is  therefore  perilous  not  only  to  holiness,  but  to  the 
hope  of  salvation  itself  and  to  all  true  service. 

Again,  a  deadly  blow  is  aimed  at  self-life  in  its  seven 
forms;  self-dependence,  self-help,  self-pleasing,  self-will, 
self-seeking,  self-defense,  and  self-glory;  in  other  words, 
a  new  practical  center  is  sought  for  all  the  life  to  revolve 
about,  and  in  this  way  a  new  step  is  taken  in  advance. 
Beyond  the  territory  of  known  sin  there  lies  another  al- 
most as  dangerous,  where  self-indulgence  is  the  peculiar 
feature.  There  is  a  large  class  of  pleasures,  amusements, 
occupations,  which  do  not  bear  the  hideous  features  of  se- 
cret or  open  sin,  but  which  all  tend  to  give  supremacy  to 
self.  In  them  all  the  real  question  is :  What  will  gratify 
and  glorify  myself?  For  example,  the  pleasures  of  amhi- 
Hon,  grasping  after  power  and  position,  which  feed  self- 


34  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

glory ;  avarice,  heaping  up  riches,  which  is  pleasing  to  self- 
indulgence;  appetite,  eating  and  drinking  for  the  sake  of 
pleasure,  which  ministers  to  self-seeking ;  and  other  forms 
of  selfishness,  such  as  courting  human  applause  by  intel- 
lectual preaching,  or  conformity  to  worldly  maxims. 

Five  or  six  forms  of  amusement  bear  the  distinct  stamp 
of  this  world,  whatever  may  be  contended  as  to  their  in- 
herent innocence :  the  theater,  the  dance,  the  card-table,  the 
horse-race,  the  opera,  the  wine-cup.  These  have  been  felt, 
for  some  reason,  to  hinder  holiness  and  service ;  and  some 
churches  have  distinctly  made  indulgence  in  them  a  matter 
of  discipline.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  them,  this  is  true : 
that,  wherever  this  deeper  experience  of  Christ's  power 
has  been  known,  it  has  always  been  preceded  or  followed 
by  their  abandonment.  These  matters  are  very  seldom  re- 
ferred to  specifically  at  the  Keswick  gatherings,  as  the 
teaching  concerns  great  general  principles  of  holy  living 
and  serving ;  yet,  as  a  fact,  those  who  attend  are  brought 
face  to  face  with  this  question :  how  can  you  do  anything 
primarily  to  please  yourself  which  does  not  put  at  risk 
your  pleasing  God?  A  high  type  of  holiness  always  in- 
volves two  practical  rules : 

(a)  I  will  seek  in  everything  to  please  my  Master  as  the 
Lord  and  Sovereign  of  my  life ; 

{h)  I  will  seek  to  please  my  neighbor  for  his  good  unto 
edification. 

Hence  one  remarkable  feature  of  this  movement  has 
been,  for  instance,  the  abandonment  of  tobacco,  not  be- 
cause its  use  can  be  conclusively  shown  to  be  inherently 
sinful,  or  because  of  any  direct  pressure  brought  to  bear 
by  speakers ;  but  because,  where  used,  not  as  a  medicine, 
but  for  indulgence  of  a  liking,  it  exalts  self  to  the  throne. 
Paul  gives  by  the  Spirit  three  all-controlling  principles  to 
guide  in  doubtful  indulgences,  and  in  each  case  he  care- 
fully guards  the  principle  by   saying  in  advance,   "  all 


KESWICK  TEACHING  35 

things  are  lawful  for  me ; "  but  he  adds  in  one  case,  "  all 
things  edify  not,  are  not  expedient;  "  and  in  the  other  case, 
"  I  will  not  be  brought  under  the  power  of  any."  Compare 
I  Cor.  X.  23 :  vi.  12. 

Three  questions  are  thus  to  be  asked  after  the  matter 
of  lawfulness  is  settled.  First,  is  this  lawful  thing  ex- 
pedient? does  it  advance  or  retard  holiness?  second,  does 
it  edify — that  is,  help  or  hinder  others  ?  and,  third,  does  it 
tend  to  enslave  or  to  emancipate  me?  One  whose  whole 
heart  is  set  on  pleasing  God  will  soon  settle  all  debatable 
territory  on  such  principles. 

Again,  the  surrender  of  the  will  to  God  in  obedience  is 
insisted  on.  Christ  must  to  every  believer  become  not  only 
Savior  but  Lord  (Rom.  x.  9,  R.  V.).  "  No  man  can  say 
that  Jesus  is  the  Lord  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost "  ( i  Cor. 
xii,  3.).  Hundreds  who  accept  Him  as  Savior  from  sin 
have  no  real  conception  of  Him  as  the  actual  Master  and 
Sovereign  of  the  daily  life.  In  the  message  to  Laodicea 
we  have  a  hint  as  to  this  sort  of  professed  believers.  "  Be- 
hold I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock — ."  Christ,  outside, 
knocking  and  appealing  for  admission.  The  keys  of  the 
house  are  not  in  His  hands.  He  is  not  admitted  to  His 
own  house  and  in  control.  There  is  a  definite  act  of  open- 
ing, welcoming,  and  entrusting  to  Him  the  keys,  which 
represent  government ;  but  so  long  as  one  apartment  in  the 
house  is  voluntarily  withheld  from  Him,  He  never  prac- 
tically assumes  control.  From  the  nature  of  the  case  it 
must  be  all  or  none;  and  every  child  of  God  may  soon 
know,  if  he  searches  his  own  heart,  whether  any  part  of 
his  life  shuts  out  Jesus  from  practical  rulership.  If  any 
part  of  the  body  shrinks  and  shows  abnormal  sensitiveness 
under  the  surgeon's  touch,  he  begins  to  suspect  that  there 
is  a  lurking  place  of  disease.  And,  whenever  a  disciple  is 
especially  sensitive  as  to  any  one  or  more  forms  of  in- 
dulgence, or  shrinks  from  the  candid  application  of  Scrip- 


36  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ture  to  any  particular  practice,  he  may  know  that  at  that 
point  there  lurks  spiritual  disease.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
the  hidden  recesses  be  opened  up  to  Christ  and  He  be 
welcomed  to  the  whole  heart  and  whole  life_,  the  very 
chambers  of  previous  idolatry  will  become  the  chambers 
of  heavenly  imagery  and  Divine  communion. 

Again,  the  infilling  of  the  Spirit. — Here  is  perhaps  the 
most  delicate  and  difficult  part  of  this  teaching.  But  it  is 
well  not  to  stop  on  phrases;  whether  we  agree  or  not  on 
the  exact  form  of  words,  we  must  admit  facts,  and  a  con- 
spicuous fact  is  this :  that  thousands  of  professed  believers, 
like  the  Ephesian  disciples  in  Acts  xix,  do  not  practically 
know  whether  there  be  a  Holy  Ghost  or  not.  Dr.  A.  J. 
Gordon  discriminated  between  sealing,  Ullifig,  and  anoint- 
ing, referring  the  first  to  assurance,  the  second,  to  power, 
and  the  third,  to  knowledge.  The  practical  point  is  this : 
have  you  ever  claimed  and  received  as  such  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit?  He  came  down  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
and  filled  disciples.  This  was  an  experience  quite  apart 
from  conversion,  for  the  hundred  and  twenty  were  all 
disciples  and  some  had  for  years  followed  Jesus ;  and  yet 
then  suddenly  all  received  a  Divine  gift,  whereby  they  had 
new  apprehension  of  all  spiritual  truth,  more  assured  wit- 
ness borne  to  them  as  children  of  God,  and  greater  power 
in  testimony  for  Christ.  Somehow  they  were  filled  with 
light,  love,  life,  and  power ;  their  tongues  were  loosed,  and 
they  spake  even  in  languages,  before  unknown.  Now,  it 
may  be,  and  doubtless  is,  true,  that  such  "  baptism  "  of  the 
Spirit  was  once  for  all,  and  that  no  further  such  effusion 
is  to  be  expected  in  this  age.  But  every  disciple  is  at  least 
entitled  to  claim  his  full  share  in  that  blessing  and  enter 
into  Pentecostal  life  and  power,  or  rather  to  have  it  enter 
into  him. 

This  is  to  be  claimed  by  faith,  quite  apart  from  feeling. 
Nowhere  in  the  Word  of  God  is  stress  laid  on  feeling,  for. 


KESWICK  TEACHING  37 

if  God  made  feeling  a  proof  or  test,  essential  to  evidence 
or  confidence,  we  should  rest  on,  and  trust  in  it,  and  our 
faith  and  hope  would  vacillate  as  often  as  our  feelings  do. 
Man  is  complex ;  he  is  composed  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit ; 
and  body  and  soul  have  much  to  do  with  spirit.  Where 
the  body  is  not  normal,  a  cloud  comes  over  the  higher 
faculties.  What  we  call  "  feeling  "  is  often  largely  at  the 
mercy  of  digestion  and  other  physical  conditions  which 
do  not  affect  faith  or  choice.  The  will  may  be  as  un- 
changingly fixed  on  God  in  sickness  as  health,  tho  the 
feelings  vary  with  every  change  of  bodily  mood.  "  Ac- 
cording to  your  faith  be  it  unto  you."  If  you  open  your 
heart  to  the  Spirit's  infilling,  claim  this  blessing,  and  rest 
on  God's  faithfulness,  He  will  not  fail  you. 

The  ultimate  result  of  this  teaching  when  actually  trans- 
lated into  experience  is  the  enjoyment  of  the  privileges 
and  victories  implied  in  this  higher  or  deeper  life,  such  as 
the  rest  life  of  faith,  power  over  sin,  passion  for  souls, 
conscious  fellowship  with  God,  growing  possession  of" 
promises,  and  prevailing  prayer  and  intercession.  The 
Revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  soul  as  an  Indwelling 
Presence  is  the  climax  of  all.  The  supreme  end  of  the 
Holy  Spirit's  indwelling  and  inworking  is  to  manifest  the 
personal  Christ  as  consciously  in  our  possession  and  in  pos- 
session of  us.  This  is  the  mystery:  Christ  in  you.  The 
Spirit  first  takes  the  things  of  Christ  and  shows  them  to 
the  believer;  second,  he  testifies  to  Christ,  and,  third,  he 
glorifies  Christ.  Note  the  three  parts  of  this  work  as  laid 
down  in  John  xiv-xvi:  Manifesting,  witnessing,  glori- 
fying. He  shows  Christ  in  all  His  offices  and  relations; 
He  makes  Him  real  as  an  actual  possession;  and  He 
clothes  Him  in  glorious  charms,  so  that  we  gaze  on  Him, 
enamored  of  His  beauty  and  love.  It  is  very  different  to 
have  Christ  revealed  without,  as  a  historic  personage,  and 
within,  as  experimentally  and  really  Master  and  Lord. 


38  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

This  latter,  the  Holy  Spirit  does,  as  the  former  is  effected 
by  the  Word. 

The  advocates  of  "  Keswick  "  teaching  earnestly  desire 
that  they  shall  not  be  supposed  to  advocate  any  new  doc- 
trine.  All  the  truths  for  which  Keswick  stands  are  as  old 
as  the  New  Testament ;  but  it  is  the  object  of  prayer  and 
endeavor  to  help  others  to  see  what  is  taught  in  the  word  of 
God,  to  claim  the  promises,  and  appropriate  the  power  of 
the  Blessed  Christ.  Like  the  unclaimed  riches  in  the  Bank 
of  England,  there  are  mines  of  unappropriated  treasure  in 
the  word  of  God. 

One  of  these  teachers,  addressing  ministers  of  Christ 
and  friends  in  America,  wrote  : 

"  It  is  an  unfeigned  delight  to  find  that  the  teaching  of  the 
Inner  Life  is  becoming  so  widespread  in  its  influence  on  this 
side  the  Atlantic.  Union  with  Christ  is  His  death  and  resurrection, 
the  reckoning  oneself  dead  to  self,  the  infilling  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  the  Rest  of  Faith,  Life  across  the  Jordan  in  the  Land  of 
Promise,  these  are  familiar  and  deeply  prized  truths  and  their 
wide  dissemination  and  realization  on  the  part  of  believers,  to- 
gether with  the  exposition  of  the  Bible,  as  opposed  to  merely 
topical  preaching  seem  to  me  the  conditions  of  a  Revival  of  God's 
work  in  this  land,  which  shall  reanimate  the  churches,  and  enable 
them  to  act  as  the  cementing  bond  in  your  vast  and  varied 
population." 


CHAPTER  IV 

KESWICK  METHOD 

The  New  Testament  reminds  us  that  truth  and  error 
find  their  allies  in  the  manner  and  method  of  conduct,  as 
well  as  in  formal  teaching.  Mute  surroundings  are  vocal 
with  testimony;  the  chosen  symbols  of  holy  influence  are 
salt  and  light ;  the  presence  of  a  good  man,  and  many  other 
things  beside  his  speech,  witness  to  the  truth;  and  so  the 
personality  of  a  wicked  or  worldly  man  has  an  influence  of 
its  own,  quite  apart  from  his  utterances. 

Keswick  method,  as  well  as  teaching,  has  been  on  trial 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Impartial  observers,  watch- 
ing from  without  the  influence  exerted  upon  the  religious 
thought  and  conduct  of  many  thousands  who  have  felt  and 
acknowledged  the  power  of  this  teaching,  have  been  con- 
vinced of  the  Scriptural  character  and  spiritual  whole- 
someness  of  this  doctrine,  and  the  practice  everywhere 
found  linked  to  it,  and  have  given  to  it  emphatic  approval. 

In  April,  1897,  an  important  convention  was  held  in 
London,  England,  the  purpose  of  which  partly  was  that, 
in  the  metropolis  of  the  world,  leading  Keswick 
teachers  might  give  an  authoritative  statement  of  this 
teaching,  correcting  misapprehension,  and  bringing  these 
vital  truths  into  touch  with  many  who  had  never  been  at 
Keswick  conventions;  and,  it  was  hoped  also  to  satisfy 
some  whose  doubts  only  such  personal  attendance  at  Kes- 
wick meetings  could  dissipate,  and  who  perhaps  had  a 
desire  "  to  spy  out  the  land  "  and  find  out  what  weak 
points,  if  any,  there  were  in  the  teaching  now  inseparable 

30 


40  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

from  the  name  of  Keswick.  The  writer  was  at  both  the 
London  and  Keswick  gatherings  of  1897  and  at  smaller 
ones  in  the  interval,  at  Dublin  and  other  places;  in  fact 
these  four  months  were  passed  in  public  and  private  con- 
tact with  meil  and  women  who  have  been  most  closely 
linked  with  this  movement ;  and  the  result  of  careful  study, 
both  of  the  formal  teaching  and  the  actual  tendencies  of 
the  Keswick  movement  confirmed  the  previous  opinion, 
that  this  class  of  truths  furnishes  a  great  corrective  remedy 
for  the  unspiritual  drift  of  our  day^  and  a  great  educative 
force  for  lifting  spiritual  life  to  a  higher  level.  Those  who 
come  under  the  influence  of  a  Keswick  convention,  in  a  re- 
ceptive spirit,  feel  its  power,  and  yearn  to  have  it  essen- 
tially reproduced  elsewhere,  not  as  a  mere  adjunct  to  some 
already  existing  conference  of  Bible  students  or  Chris- 
tian workers,  but  with  all  its  main  characteristics^  lest 
there  should  be  lost  any  of  the  peculiar  features  which  give 
it  its  unique  power  of  impression,  and  without  any  one  of 
which  it  would  cease  to  be  what  it  is. 

The  object  of  the  present  chapter  is  to  give  the  reader 
a  glimpse,  if  possible  an  insight,  into  what  it  is  which 
makes  Keswick  such  a  force  in  modern  spiritual  life.  The 
teaching  is  not  to  be  accurately  judged,  apart  from  certain 
conspicuous  surroundings  which  characterize  the  assem- 
blies and  give  a  unique  character  to  the  whole  convention. 
Indeed,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  verbal  teaching  is 
even  the  main  feature  of  the  Keswick  movement;  there 
are  other  matters  at  least  as  important,  quite  apart  from 
the  direct  instruction  given  in  the  addresses.  One  may 
read  the  whole  series  of  addresses,  as  reproduced  verbatim 
in  the  "  Life  of  Faith,"  and  yet  miss  the  most  conspicuous 
charm  of  these  assemblies — the  very  aroma  of  the  flower. 
Those  who  have  little  knowledge  of  the  matter  often  dis- 
miss this  teaching  as  a  mere  "  school  "  of  religious  opin- 
ion akin  to  one  of  many  modern  types  of  doctrine,  the  ten- 


KESWICK  METHOD  41 

dencies  of  thought  which  differentiate  one  theological 
school  from  another.  This  is  a  great  mistake.  Keswick 
stands  for  a  great  deal  more  than  the  truth,  orally  pro- 
claimed from  its  platform  or  promulgated  through  the 
press,  and  it  is  this  other  side  which  is  needful  for  the 
comprehensive  understanding  of  the  matter,  and  valuable 
for  the  many  instructive  lessons  involved. 

First  of  all,  it  may  be  well  to  refer  to  a  misconstruction 
or  misapprehension,  found  in  a  paragraph  from  a  prom- 
inent religious  newspaper : 

"  The  Keswick  movement  in  some  localities  has  run  into  ex- 
cesses, has  caused  divisions  in  churches,  has  produced  self-right- 
eousness, and  caused  men  and  women  to  say,  by  their  actions, 
to  fellow-Christians,  '  Stand  aside,  for  I  am  holier  than  thou.' 
This  does  not  come  from  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  of  God; 
is  the  exact  opposite  of  the  results  of  the  ministry  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  for  the  Spirit  Himself  has  declared  through  an  inspired 
Apostle  that  *  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  gentleness,  .meekness.'  The  people  who  declare  them- 
selves to  be  of  such  superior  spirituality  that  they  can  no  longer 
be  associated  with  the  membership  of  a  Christian  church  are  mis- 
led and  mistaken,  and  are  not  led  by  the  Holy  Spirit." 

It  is  remarkable,  in  connection  with  this  movement,  that 
it  has  never  been  found  to  cause  "  divisions  in  churches/' 
no  man  or  woman  ever  yet  being  known,  through  its  influ- 
ence or  under  its  teaching,  to  leave  one  communion  for  an- 
other. In  fact,  one  conspicuous  result  has  been  that  those 
who  at  Keswick  meetings  find  newness  of  life,  rather  in- 
cline to  stay  where  they  are,  ecclesiastically,  and  seek  to 
infuse  new  life  into  dead  and  formal  service.  If  Keswick 
teaching  "  produces  self -righteousness  and  causes  men 
and  women  to  say  '  Stand  aside,  I  am  holier  than  thou,' " 
we  have  not  met  a  single  such  case,  for  again,  it  is  one 
notable  fruit  of  this  teaching  that  it  produces  humility, 
and  considerate  charity  for  others.  As  it  insists  that  holi- 
ness is  the  result,  not  of  a  prolonged  and  persistent  self-ef- 


42  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

fort,  but  of  a  simple  appropriation  of  Christ  as  the  victor 
over  evil,  the  tendency  is  to  humble  disciples  by  reason  of 
the  conscious  inadequacy  of  their  own  endeavors,  and  their 
entire  dependence  on  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  most  con- 
spicuous exponents  and  examples  of  this  teaching  are,  like 
the  late  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon,  the  last  to  assert  their  own 
sanctity,  and  would  be  shocked,  should  others  ascribe  to 
them  holiness  or  perfection.  They  repudiate  all  such  epi- 
thets, becoming  more  lowly  in  mind  as  they  become  the 
more  lofty  in  aim  and  pure  in  heart. 

There  are  at  least  a  dozen  matters,  in  regard  to  which 
Keswick  is  a  standing  protest  or  witness,  or  both,  and 
which  are  entirely  aside  and  apart  from  the  verbal  utter- 
ances of  its  platform,  but  without  which  those  utterances 
would  be  shorn  of  their  real  effectiveness.  It  may  be  well 
to  enumerate,  tho  some  things  evade  analysis  and  defy 
description. 

The  methods  and  measures  characteristic  of  a  true 
Keswick  convention  are  quite  as  important  as  the  truth 
taught;  and  bear  quite  as  distinct  a  stamp  of  peculiarity 
and  individuality. 

The  Method,  thus  inseparable  from  the  teaching,  in- 
cludes also  seven  particulars : 

1.  Dependence,  solely  and  directly,  upon  the  guidance  or 
administration  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  John  xvi.  7-15;  Acts 
viii.  29,  39,  xiii.  2-4. 

2.  Independence  of  Worldly  patronage,  of  numbers  as 
the  sign  or  measure  of  success,  and  of  merely  secular  at- 
tractions. Matt,  xviii.  19,  20;  John  xv.  18,  19;  Jas.  iv.  4; 
I  John  ii.  15-17. 

3.  Subordination  of  music,  teaching,  and  all  else  to  the 
promotion  of  holy  living.  Eph.  v.  19;  i  Cor.  ii.  2-5. 
xiv.  26. 

4.  Emphasis  on  a  definite  experience  as  indispensable  to 


KESWICK  METHOD  43 

power  in  testimony.     John  iii.   11;  Gal.  i.   11-16;  Acts 
iv.  13. 

5.  Apostolic  simplicity  of  worship,  witness,  and  volun- 
tary giving.    Acts  ii.  42-47;  2  Cor.  ix.  5-10. 

6.  Unity  of  believers  on  the  basis  of  great  essentials, 
such  as  the  Incarnation,  Atonement,  and  Regeneration. 
John  iii.  3-6;  I  Cor.  xv.  1-4;  i  John  iv.  2,  3. 

7.  Habitual  waiting  on  God  in  prayer  as  essential  both 
to  receiving  and  imparting  blessing.  Eph.  vi.  18-20;  2 
Thess.  iii.  i,  2. 

It  is  refreshing  to  find  anywhere  methods  so  scriptural 
and  apostolic:  Direct  dependence  on  Divine  guidance, 
no  step  taken,  even  in  minute  matters,  without  first  re- 
ferring it  to  God  to  know  His  will ;  and  consequent  inde- 
pendence of  human  patronage;  no  alliance  sought  with 
great  names,  the  rich,  the  nobly  born,  the  leaders  of 
thought,  the  aristocracy  of  intellect;  to  find  such  sin- 
gular indifference  to  mere  numbers,  no  emphasis  being 
placed  upon  crowds  as  a  sign  of  success  or  blessing,  or 
as  the  measure  of  encouragement;  and  consequently,  no 
catering  to  popularity;  nothing  done  simply  to  make  the 
meetings  "  draw,"  no  savor  of  sensationalism^  however 
mild.  Nor  is  there  reliance  on  eloquent  speaking,  as  such. 
No  program  of  speakers  or  subjects  is  ever  published, 
and  even  the  "  speaker's  program  "  gives  no  hint  of  topics 
to  be  treated. 

The  platform  is  one  of  witness,  no  fame,  learning,  or 
eloquence,  apart  from  a  definite  experience  of  blessing,  giv- 
ing authority  to  bear  a  testimony. 

A  definite  result  is  uniformly  sought  in  the  practical 
life  of  the  hearer,  toward  which  all  else  is  directed.  Hence 
the  definite  type  and  order  of  teaching,  the  truth  being 
presented,  not  at  random,  but  with  reference  to  its  bear- 
ing on  this  result.    Immediate,  visible,  decisive  action  on 


44  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

the  part  of  the  hearer  is  urgently  insisted  upon — a  surren- 
der to  God  at  once,  carrying  with  it  prompt  renunciation 
of  known  sin  and  obedience  to  known  duty.  Hence,  much 
prominence  is  given  to  after-meetings. 

Sacred  song  is  used  as  an  aid  to  worship  and  teaching; 
simple,  congregational  singing,  and  always  chiefly,  if  not 
solely,  with  reference  to  the  impression  of  the  Word; 
not  as  an  independent  attraction,  but  a  subordinate  adapta- 
tion, preparing  for,  and  following  up,  the  truth  taught. 

Confidence  is  felt  in  the  Holy  Spirit's  presence  and  guid- 
ance; the  pervading  impression  is  that  God  has  con- 
trol, and  hence  that  remarkable  emphasis,  laid  upon  public 
and  private  waiting  on  God  in  prayer,  seldom  found  else- 
where. There  is  no  appeal  for  money,  even  to  meet  ex- 
penses, save  through  boxes  provided  for  voluntary  offer- 
ings, it  being  a  fundamental  principle  to  rest  on  God  for 
means  to  carry  on  His  work,  rather  than  to  look  to  monied 
men  and  women.  All  disciples  are  recognized  as  "  one 
body  in  Christ,",  and  every  one  members  one  of  another ; 
only  the  essentials  of  Christian  doctrine  being  made  prom- 
inent, without  regard  to  minor  differences. 

The  meetings  are  not  controlled  by  any  one  man,  but 
by  a  committee  and  council  of  godly  men  and  women, 
who  are  in  hearty  agreement  as  to  the  foregoing  positions. 
While  Keswick  is  the  main  center  for  gatherings  in  the 
end  of  July,  during  all  the  year,  at  various  points  in  the 
United  Kingdom,  local  conventions,  for  the  deepening  of 
spiritual  life,  are  held  under  the  direction  of  the  Keswick 
leaders  and  teachers ;  and  men  and  women  go  as  mission- 
aries both  to  home  and  foreign  fields  to  spread  the  knowl- 
edge of  these  truths,  and  encourage  the  simple  apostolic 
methods  so  blessed  of  God. 

In  all  this  teaching  and  method  there  is  nothing  new, 
save  the  new  stress  laid  upon  neglected  truths.  In  all 
movements,  conspicuously  owned  of  God,  there  has  been 


KESWICK  METHOD  45 

simply  a  return  toward  primitive  apostolic  models,  the  su- 
preme purpose  being  to  make  real  and  actual  to  disciples 
the  experience  of  the  fulness  of  blessing  offered  in  Christ 
Jesus.  Because  such  has  been  the  practical  result  of  the 
teaching  and  method  above  outlined,  God  has  set  His  seal 
upon  it  in  marked  blessing,  tens  of  thousands  giving 
proof  that  there  has  come  into  their  lives  a  vital  force, 
transforming  both  character  and  conduct. 

Believing  the  essential  conditions  of  blessing  to  be 
everywhere  and  at  all  times  the  same,  the  matter  herein 
presented  is  commended  to  the  prayerful  consideration  of 
fellow-believers  in  every  place  and  of  every  name,  in  hope 
that  united  prayer  and  effort  may  be  directed  toward  the 
establishment  of  conferences  for  the  promotion  of  a  fuller 
life  in  Christ  wherever  like-minded  disciples  are  ready  to 
meet  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

The  above  statement  of  principles  is  necessarily  con- 
densed, and  hence  open  to  misconstruction  if  not  inter- 
preted according  to  its  plain  intention.  It  is  in  no  sense 
a  creed  or  a  complete  and  exhaustive  statement.  Yet  if 
we  are  to  learn  the  lesson  God  would  teach,  it  is  needful 
to  understand  both  the  truths  and  the  practices  which  have 
been  so  owned  of  God.  However  important  the  teaching 
at  Keswick,  these  methods  of  conduct  are  essential  to  the 
whole  movement  as  such,  and,  if  there  is  to  be  a  counter- 
part and  not  a  counterfeit  of  the  movement  elsewhere,  it 
must  begin  from  the  beginning,  and  upon  a  right  basis. 
The  methods  in  vogue  at  many  existing  religious  gather- 
ings, however  justifiable,  are  certainly  in  marked  contrast. 
For  example,  we  generally  find  dependence  on  organiza- 
tion, numerical  strength,  and  secular  attractions ;  every 
effort  made  to  draw  the  crowds,  by  an  announced  program 
of  speakers,  if  not  of  subjects ;  music  a  studied  attraction, 
sometimes  a  performance  by  professional  artists,  and  sing- 
ing, cultivated  as  a  matter  of  art;  constant  effort  made 

or  -CAM 

XTNIVERSITT 


46  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

to  get  famous,  prominent,  eloquent  and  popular  speakers, 
and  the  element  of  witness  not  made  emphatic,  or  generally- 
even  essential.  Whoever  thinks  of  limiting  the  choice  of 
speakers  to  those  who  have  a  definite  experience,  along  a 
certain  line  of  testimony?  Speakers  often  are  admitted 
to  the  platform  of  our  summer  gatherings,  who  are  known 
to  hold  doubtful  doctrine,  if  not  to  encourage  questionable 
practice,  but  who  are  popular.  No  convention  in  America, 
with  perhaps  two  exceptions,  definitely  aims  at  securing  an 
immediate  and  absolute  surrender  to  the  mastership  of 
Christ,  and  the  entire  transformation  of  both  inner  and 
outer  life  of  those  who  attend. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  a  definite  order  in  which 
truth  is  taught  at  Keswick.  For  example,  on  the  first  day 
or  two  sin  is  dealt  with,  and  its  immediate  abandonment, 
the  effort  being  made  to  bring  one  face  to  face  with  God 
as  a  judge,  and  to  produce  conviction  of  guilt,  sin  and 
need.  On  a  succeeding  day,  such  themes  as  the  power  of 
Christ,  and  of  a  true,  vital  union  with  Him,  of  the  Holy 
Spirit's  indwelling,  and  the  proper  use  of  the  Word  of 
God,  as  preventives  of  sin  and  promotives  of  holiness ;  and 
on  another,  the  Life  in  God  with  its  immunities,  privileges, 
possibilities.  Then,  as  the  convention  week  closes,  service, 
its  conditions,  laws  and  qualifications,  with  special  em- 
phasis on  the  enduement  and  the  filling  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
with  a  final  meeting  on  Saturday,  when  the  mission  field 
and  its  claims  are  urged. 

This  general  outline  is  never  filled  in  twice  alike,  so 
that  it  is  no  mechanical  cast-iron  model  or  pattern,  allow- 
ing no  flexibility  or  variation.  There  are  many  advantages 
in  such  order  of  teaching,  which  moves  onward,  step  by 
step,  toward  definite  results,  and  enables  speakers  who  at 
any  stage  of  the  meetings  make  their  appearance,  to  fall 
in  with  the  purpose  and  purport  of  the  teaching  at  that 
particular  stage.     And  in  arranging  the  speakers'  pro- 


KESWICK  METHOD  47 

gram — which  is  only  for  their  own  guidance  as  to  the 
times  of  their  addresses — regard  is  had  to  the  fitness  of 
particular  persons  to  deal  with  certain  lines  of  truth,  as 
shown  by  previous  experience. 

Without  antagonizing  methods  that  may  elsewhere  pre- 
vail, or  of  disputing  their  possible  uses  or  advantages, 
one  fact  stands  out  indisputable:  Keswick  methods  are 
so  characteristic  and  so  inseparable  from  its  teaching 
that,  if  the  teaching  is  to  have  its  full  sway,  it  must  not 
be  divorced  from  all  that  God  has  joined  with  it. 

How  can  a  similar  type  of  teaching  and  method  be 
given  fullest  scope  elsewhere?  Obviously  there  are  no 
geographical  limits  to  such  uplifting  and  sanctifying  in- 
fluences, and  disciples  everywhere  need  such  inspiration  to 
holiness  and  self-surrender,  as  Keswick  has  supplied  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century  in  Great  Britain. 

Whenever  some  convenient  and  central  locality — per- 
haps more  than  one — can  be  chosen  under  God's  guidance, 
where  meetings  could  be  annually  held  in  some  tent  or  tab- 
ernacle, commodious  and  inexpensive;  if  there  could  be  a 
right  start,  with  indifference  to  mere  numbers,  with  care- 
ful avoidance  of  all  men  and  measures  not  in  accord  with 
simple,  scriptural  and  spiritual  aims  and  methods;  wher- 
ever, in  a  word,  similar  conventions  could  be  held,  start- 
ing right,  and  then  kept  within  the  original  lines,  un- 
leavened with  sensationalism  and  secularism,  untold  bless- 
ing might  ensue  to  thousands  of  disciples.  And  we  can 
at  least  devoutly  pray  that  God  would  in  His  own  way 
and  in  many  other  localities,  lead  up  to  such  results. 

But,  wherever  such  results  are  sought,  we  must  be 
prepared  to  start  with  a  small  number  of  like-minded 
people;  where  even  a  few  are  prepared  to  claim  His 
promise,  to  the  smallest  number  who  can  meet — ^two 
or  three — He  says,  "  I  am  in  the  midst  of  them."  A  large 
gathering  at  the  outset  might  be  fraught  with  risk.    The 


48  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

greatest  movements  in  spiritual  life  never  do  begin  with 
large  numbers.  The  beginnings  of  this  great  reformation 
in  British  religious  life  were  so  small  as  to  be  now  hard 
to  trace.  A  few  people,  gathering  in  London  at  noonday 
in  a  hall;  then  a  hundred  or  so  at  a  private  residence, 
meeting  by  invitation ;  then,  step  by  step,  more  and  larger 
gatherings,  until  no  place  was  found  for  the  throngs.  But 
more  marvelous  than  the  growth,  is  the  way  in  which,  for 
twenty-five  years,  the  Keswick  platform  has  been  kept  free 
from  mere  popular  oratory,  and  held  its  position  as  a  place 
of  witness  along  a  line  of  definite  teaching.  What  a 
temptation,  as  the  crowds  grew  and  with  the  crowds  divers 
people  of  diverse  opinions  and  preferences,  to  cater  to  the 
popular  demand  for  fine  speakers,  especially  if  they  were 
Scriptural  teachers,  famous  orators,  or  learned  expositors ! 
But  no.  The  apostolic  succession  of  testimony  has  been 
preserved  unbroken. 

Keswick  teaching  is  definite  and  unmistakable.  It  af- 
firms a  possible  and  practical  deliverance  from  continuance 
in  known  sin;  a  renewal  of  the  spirit  of  the  mind,  a  do- 
minion of  love,  an  experience  of  inward  peace;  it  main- 
tains that  it  is  a  sin  to  be  anxious,  because,  where  anxiety 
begins,  faith  ends,  and  where  faith  begins,  anxiety  ends; 
that  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  under  the  dominion  of  any 
lust  of  body  or  mind,  to  live  a  life  of  doubt  and  despon- 
dency, or  to  have  interrupted  communion  with  God.  For- 
feited joy  means  broken  fellowship.  To  every  trusting, 
obedient  soul,  who  dares  take  God  at  His  word  and  count 
every  commandment  an  enablement,  there  is  an  immediate 
deliverance  from  the  palsied  limbs  that  make  impossible 
a  holy  walk  with  God ;  from  the  withered  hand  that  pre- 
vents a  holy  work  for  God,  and  from  the  moral  deformity 
that  bows  one  together,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  lift  up 
one's-self  to  spiritual  uprightness  and  erectness.  To  those 
who  are  thus  bound  by  Satan,  He,  who  is  the  same  yester- 


KESWICK  METHOD  49 

day,  to-day,  and  forever,  still  and  for  evermore  says, 
''  Thou  art  loosed  from  thine  infirmity/'  Divine  hands  are 
ready  to  be  laid  upon  us,  and  make  us  at  once  straight  and 
strong  to  glorify  God  in  holy  living. 

Such  are  the  real,  present  and  practical  truths,  for  which 
Keswick  stands, — truths  taught  effectively,  because  taught 
only  by  those  who,  whatever  else  they  lack,  do  not  lack  the 
personal  experience  of  deliverance,  but  who  can  say,  how- 
ever humbly,  boldly,  "  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for 
us,  whereof  we  are  glad ;  "  and  the  sight  of  those  who  are 
thus  healed,  as  of  old,  stops  the  mouth  of  cavillers,  and  em- 
boldens the  feeble  faith  of  the  hesitating  and  doubtful. 

Once  more,  let  us  remind  ourselves  that  the  conditions 
of  blessing  do  not  vary  essentially  with  change  of  scene 
or  actors.  God  loudly  says  to  His  people  that  He  is  wait- 
ing to  bless  them  anywhere  and  everywhere,  and  He  puts 
before  them  an  example  and  a  pattern  which  has  had  His 
seal  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Why  attempt  to  improve 
on  the  pattern,  or  to  secure  like  blessing  in  neglect  of  the 
pattern?  Keswick  has  been  a  fountain  of  spiritual  life, 
because  four  great  scriptural  laws  have  there  found  sin- 
gular exemplification:  habitual  prayerfulness,  prominence 
of  the  Word  of  God,  unity  among  all  believers,  and  de- 
pendence on  the  Holy  Spirit,  closely  reproducing  the  as- 
semblies of  the  primitive  apostolic  church.  Believers  meet 
from  day  to  day  to  magnify  scripture  teaching,  to  sing 
holy  hymns,  to  know  no  name  but  that  of  Christ,  to  ac- 
knowledge no  presiding  or  administrative  power  but  the 
Holy  Spirit,  to  exhort  one  another  to  an  essentially 
heavenly  life;  they  continue  steadfastly  in  apostolic  doc- 
trine and  fellowship,  in  breaking  of  bread  and  in  prayers, 
and  in  a  peculiar  and  sacred  sense,  none  say  that  anything 
they  possess  is  their  own,  but  they  have  all  things  in  com- 
mon, and  the  Lord  adds  daily  to  the  number  of  those  who 
are  being  saved  from  sin  unto  holiness.    Wherever  these 


so  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

words  reach  responsive  eyes  and  hearts,  there  let  like- 
minded  disciples  gather,  wait  on  God  in  prayer,  and  be 
content  to  go  step  by  step,  and  God  will  raise  up  His  own 
witnesses  and  helpers,  if  His  people  meet  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  and  are  united  in  the  sacred  symphony  of  believ- 
ing prayer. 


CHAPTER  V 

SPIRITUAL  QUICKENINGS 

The  phrase  "  Revival  of  religion  "  is  a  popular  one,  but 
a  very  doubtful  one,  and  unscriptural  beside.  But  behind 
the  phrase  lies  a  correct  and  scriptural  conception  and  a 
historical  and  experimental  fact:  God  does  at  times  visit 
not  only  churches  but  whole  communities  with  peculiar 
spiritual  quickenings.  One  of  these  w.e  select,  partly  be- 
cause it  is  not  widely  known  and  familiar  and  partly  be- 
cause it  teaches  such  valuable  lessons,  as  to  Grod's  methods 
of  working, 

"  In  the  BEGINNING — God/'  Thcse  sublimely  signifi- 
cant words  open  the  Book  of  Books,  and  are  the  key  to  all 
real  advance  in  human  history.  Every  true  movement  for- 
ward has  but  one  ultimate  source  and  fountain — God ;  and 
we  shall  find  it  so,  if  we  follow  the  stream  far  enough 
backward.  No  practical  difficulty  hinders  true  holy  living 
and  serving  which  is  not  also  traceable  at  last,  to  the  lack 
of  the  Divine  factor.  When  God  is  not  in  all  our 
thoughts;  not  recognized  in  our  plans,  resolves,  activi- 
ties ;  when  His  presence  is  not  sought,  His  guidance  is  not 
real,  His  power  is  not  our  supreme  dependence,  our  seem- 
ing success  is  but  failure  and  our  work  comes  to  naught. 
And,  whenever  a  genuine  and  permanent  growth  or  in- 
crease is  found,  those  who  read  its  secret  history  are 
constrained  to  say :  "  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things 
for  us  whereof  we  are  glad." 

It  is  now  thirty  years  since,  in  Newport,  Monmouth- 
shire, England,  a  remarkable  work  of  God  began,  the  re- 
sults of  which  even  yet  appear  in  a  manifold  form. 

SI 


52  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

It  was  first  of  all  noticeable  how  God  interposes  in  the 
extremity  of  His  people.  Unbelief  and  worldliness  cause 
serious  forgetfulness  of  Him  and  departure  from  Him. 
Spiritual  life  declines ;  and,  when  all  our  resources  and  de- 
pendences fail  us,  then,  and  it  is  sad  to  admit  it,  then  alone, 
do  we  turn  fully  unto  God.  Church-life  commonly  sinks 
to  its  lowest  ebb  before  the  flood-tides  of  God  sweep  over 
a  community.  It  was  so  in  this  instance.  The  narrative  of 
this  work — now  out  of  print — records  a  remarkable  bless- 
ing and  reveals  some  conditions  upon  which  such  outpour- 
ing of  Divine  grace  depends,  and  may  elsewhere  be  en- 
joyed. * 

From  this  account,  written  by  Rev.  J.  Tinson  Wrenford, 
we  make  copious  extracts : 

Prior  to  the  commencement  of  this  season  of  blessing  was  a 
seed-time  of  tears.  To  the  inquiry,  frequently  made  of  mem- 
bers of  different  communions,  "Are  you  prospering?  Is  there 
much  life  amongst  you?"  the  humbling  reply  was  almost  always 
returned,  "  Alas !  we  are  not  as  we  should  be :  there  is  much 
deadness  of  soul :  we  greatly  need  an  awakening." 

It  pleased  God  (early  in  the  year  1870)  to  put  in  the  hearts  of 
some  of  His  children  to  meet  together  every  Friday  evening  to 
pray,  specially  for  a  blessing  on  the  services,  teaching,  and  other 
means  of  grace  on  the  approaching  Lord's  Day,  and  also  that 
God  would  graciously  pour  out  His  Spirit  on  the  church  with 
which  they  were  connected,  and  upon  all  other  Christian  congre- 
gations in  the  town.  Amid  various  discouragements  this  little 
prayer-meeting  was  carried  on  week  after  week.  At  first  only 
a  very  few  assembled;  but,  at  last,  the  room  became  inconve- 
niently crowded.  The  Lord  gave  them  the  spirit  of  prayer  and 
supplication,  but  withheld  any  special  or  signal  indication  that 
their  petitions  would  be  abundantly  answered  They  did  cer- 
tainly perceive  a  change  in  their  own  Minister's  preaching,  and 
remarked  upon  it  one  to  another.  He  himself,  conscious  of  it,  was 
led  publicly  to  express  his  gratitude  to  God  for  the  sustaining 
intercessions  of  the  "praying  baiud."  At  length,  however,  a 
deep  impression  was  made  on  the  minds  of  some  who  had  thus 


_  ♦  God's  work  at  Newport.    S.  W.  Partridge  &  Co.  London. 


SPIRITUAL  QUICKENINGS  53 

continued  together  in  prayer,  that  the  Lord  was  about  to  com- 
mence a  great  work  in  Newport.  Their  faith  had  long  been  ex- 
ercised :  now  they  began  to  expect  a  gracious  answer. 

Just  at  this  time  the  wish  was  expressed  by  members  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  (with  which  several  of  these 
praying  men  were  connected)  that  a  meeting  for  united  prayer 
should  be  held  at  an  early  date;  and  an  earnest  invitation  v/as 
issued  to  "  Christian  men  and  women  of  all  denominations,"  to 
meet  together  at  the  Victoria  Hall,  on  Thursday  evening,  January 
I2th,  1871,  "to  call  on  the  Lord  (i.)  for  the  descent  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  among  them,  and  an  increase  of  vital  godliness;  and 
(2.)  for  the  conversion  to  God  of  many  of  their  fellow-towns 
folk  during  the  coming  year."  This  united  prayer-meeting  was 
attended  by  a  large  number:  a  most  solemn  spirit  pervaded  the 
assembly :  the  Lord  Himself  was  in  the  midst,  His  presence  being 
felt  by  many. 

There  was  a  short  season  of  praying  and  waiting  again:  the 
Lord  "  tarried  " — but  not  long.  The  spirit  of  expectation  con- 
tinued, and,  indeed,  became  intensified.  At  length  came  the 
"  earnest "  of  the  approaching  "  showers  of  blessing."  On  Sun- 
day evening,  February  i6th,  the  preacher  (who  had  himself  on 
the  previous  day  experienced  a  glorious  deliverance  from  the 
buffetings  of  Satan,  and  been  brought  out  into  "  a  wealthy  place," 
a  place  of  sunshine  and  certainty  never  before  experienced  by 
him),  made  an  earnest  appeal  to  any  who  were  in  an  anxious 
and  inquiring  condition  of  mind,  to  remain  at  the  close  of  the 
service.  Several  that  night  found  peace  with  God,  through  Jesus 
Christ.  The  work  of  "  in-gathering  "  had  commenced,  although, 
as  yet,  but  on  a  small  scale.  Several  weeks  passed  away.  Every 
Sunday  night  inquirers  were  led  to  Jesus:  and  every  week  it 
became  more  and  more  apparent  that  the  Lord  was  preparing  the 
minds  of  many  for  the  momentous  cry,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be 
saved?" 

About  this  time  special  "  Mission  Services  "  were  held  at  the 
neighboring  town  of  Cardiff,  upon  which  the  Divine  blessing 
was  evidently  resting.  Among  the  preachers  was  the  venerable 
Robert  Aitken — so  long  and  well  known  in  England  and  Scotland 
in  connection  with  evangelizing  labors.  An  invitation  to  come  to 
St.  Paul's,  Newport,  was  complied  with.  At  the  foot  of  the 
handbills  announcing  the  forthcoming  special  services,  was 
printed  the  text  from  Malachi,  "Prove  me  now  herewith,  saith 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,  if  I  will  not  open  you  the  windows  of  heaven. 


54  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

and  pour  you  out  a  blessing,  that  there  shall  not  he  room  enough 
to  receive  it." 

A  very  solemn  spirit  of  supplication  and  expectancy  pervaded 
the  preparatory  prayer-meeting,  on  Saturday  night,  March  25th, 
and  on  the  following  morning,  Mr.  Aitken  preached,  taking  as  his 
subject  the  incidents  narrated  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  John's 
Gospel  relating  to  the  sickness,  death  and  resurrection  of  Laz- 
arus. Mr.  Aitken  spoke  of  realities.  The  anxiety  of  Mary  and 
Martha,  their  affliction,  their  grief,  were  real :  the  loving  sym- 
pathy of  Jesus  towards  His  distressed  disciples  was  also  real :  and 
so,  too,  His  power  over  death  and  the  grave.  Jesus  is  still  a  real 
Savior — "  the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  forever."  His 
words  were,  that  day,  addressed  to  many  of  His  hearers :  "  The 
Master  is  come,  and  calleth  for  thee." — "  Take  ye  away  the 
stone."—"  Lazarus,  come  forth!  " 

In  the  evening  Mr.  Aitken  again  preached,  from  Heb.  xii:  24. 
and  the  Spirit  accompanied  the  word  spoken.  At  the  close  an 
invitation  was  given  to  any  who  might  be  desirous  of  direction, 
and  a  large  number  remained,  many  of  whom  were  evidently 
in  a  state  of  deep  concern  as  to  salvation :  and  that  night,  about 
seventy  entered  into  the  liberty  wherewith  Jesus  makes  His  peo- 
ple free. 

On  the  four  evenings  following,  Mr.  Aitken  preached,  to  crowded 
congregations,  "  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,"  his  sermons 
being  characterized  by  great  simplicity  and  fervency.  With  a 
power  of  utterance  at  times  vehement,  he  besought  the  careless, 
the  ungodly,  the  mere  professor,  to  come  to  Jesus  for  pardon  and 
eternal  life.  What  he  contemplated  was  the  reality  of  all  that 
the  Gospel  declared, — the  reality  of  the  sinner's  necessity  and 
danger, — of  the  all-sufficiency  of  the  blood  of  Jesus, — of  the  love 
of  the  Father  toward  the  returning  prodigal, — and  of  the  power 
of  the  Son  of  Man  to  forgive  sins.  To  him  sin,  the  judgment, 
eternity,  heaven,  and  hell  too,  were  terribly  real.  Hence  the 
"  reality "  of  all  his  appeals,  remonstrances,  and  exhortations. 
The  Lord  owned  His  word  upon  each  occasion,  and  every  night 
crowds  of  penitents  came  for  direction.  The  after-services  were 
prolonged  until  nearly  or  quite  midnight:  and,  even  then  num- 
bers lingered,  as  tho  loth  to  depart  without  further  blessing. 

***** 

Thus  were  brought  to  the  feet  of  Jesus  the  young  and  the  old. 


SPIRITUAL  QUICKENINGS  55 

— hardened  sinners, — mere  professors  of  religion  of  many  years' 
standing,— backsliders,— the  self-righteous— persons  of  almost  all 
classes  and  descriptions.  Husbands  and  wives,  parents  and 
children,  brothers  and  sisters,  in  some  instances,  whole  families, 
were  brought  in — in  other  cases  the  remaining  members  of  other- 
wise godly  families  were  reached  by  the  Word,  and  led  to  the 
cross. 

One  precious  feature  of  these  services  was  the  real  spiritual 
unanimity  and  unity  manifested  by  Christians  of  all  denomina- 
tions, from  first  to  last.  It  seemed  as  tho  the  Lord's  prayer  was 
fulfilled,  "  That  they  all  may  be  one."  His  people  felt  they  were 
"one,"  not  artificially  or  theoretically,  but  actually  and  truly. 
Distinctive  titles,  indicative  of  divisions  in  the  family,  were  for- 
gotten. Churchmen,  Wesleyans,  Baptists,  Independents,  Breth- 
ren— all  met  together  in  the  house  of  their  common  Lord,  not  as 
"  sectarians,"  but  as  "  Christians; "  with  one  heart  and  voice 
they  prayed  and  praised;  with  one  purpose  they  assisted,  when 
occasion  served,  in  directing  the  inquiring.  The  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  was  a  spirit  of  love  and  fellowship  to  them  all :  and  Jesus 
was  Himself  in  their  midst,  breathing  upon  them,  and  saying  to 
them,  as  to  the  disciples  of  old,  "  Peace  be  unto  you." 

After  Mr.  Aitken  left  Newport  for  his  own  parish,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  earnest  desire  of  many,  special  services  were 
continued  during  the  five  following  days,  and  the  Lord  did  not 
stay  His  hand  or  withhold  His  blessing.  Every  night  many 
penitents  were  led  to  the  cross,  and  found  peace  and  joy  in 
believing.  Friday  was  a  day  long  to  be  remembered.  It  was 
the  commemoration  of  the  crucifixion.  A  vast  congregation  as- 
sembled, and  about  five-and-thirty  souls  cast  themselves  upon  the 
finished  work  of  Jesus,  and  realized  pardon  and  deliverance. 

Thus  closed  the  second  week  of  the  special  services.  Alto- 
gether six  hundred  souls  had  been  brought  to  the  Lord.  Among 
the  converts  were  persons  connected  with  nearly  all  the  congrega- 
tions of  the  town.  No  attempt  was  made  to  proselytize;  on  the 
contrary,  the  converts  were  urged  ordinarily  to  remain  in  con- 
nection with  the  communions  to  which  they  had  formerly  been 
attached.  Many  congregations  were  stirred  up  to  pray  for  the 
outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  themselves,  and  a  reviving 
work  began  to  make  itself  felt  among  the  people.  Special  serv- 
ices were  commenced  at  several  churches  of  the  neighborhood ; 
and  the  power  of  the  Lord  was  present  to  heal  and  to  save. 


56  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

In  May,  Lord  Radstock  delivered  evangelistic  addresses  at 
Newport.  Two  halls  were  secured,  each  accommodating  at  least 
a  thousand  persons.  Two  addresses  were  given  daily,  and  each 
evening  the  hall  was  densely  crowded.  His  expositions  and  ap- 
peals— so  scriptural,  clear,  earnest,  and  persuasive — were  listened 
to  with  deep  attention.  The  Spirit  of  God  graciously  applied  the 
word,  and  again  the  Lord  brought  many  souls  "  out  of  darkness 
and  the  shadow  of  death,  and  brake  their  bands  in  sunder." 

In  June,  Mr.  Aitken  paid  a  second  visit  to  Newport,  accom- 
panied by  his  two  sons,  the  Rev.  R.  W.  Aitken,  and  the  Rev.  W. 
Hay  Aitken.  It  pleased  God  to  give  His  blessing  to  the  Gospel 
message  at  each  of  the  assemblies,  conversions  taking  place  every 
night. 

The  congregations  were  extremely  large.  On  one  night,  nearly 
or  quite  two  thousand  persons  were  crowded  into  the  church, 
while  hundreds  thronged  the  approaches,  unable  to  obtain  ad- 
mission. The  services  were  prolonged  to  a  very  late  hour,  in 
consequence  of  the  large  number  of  anxious  ones  seeking  direc- 
tion. The  result  of  this  second  mission  was  that  three  hundred 
souls  were  brought  to  the  Lord,  in  connection  with  St.  Paul's 
church  alone. 

Surely  no  one  can  speak  of  an  aggregate  of  one  thousand  pro- 
fessed conversions  in  a  single  parish  within  four  months,  without 
feelings  of  fervent  gratitude  to  Him  who  alone  can  turn  one 
sinner  "  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan 
unto  God."  Many  hundreds  besides  were  awakened  and  led  to 
Jesus,  in  connection  with  other  communions,  in  the  same  period 
of  time,  and  the  work  of  the  Lord  rapidly  spread  to  several 
parishes  adjacent.  But  yet  further  testimony  has  to  be  borne 
to  the  goodness  of  God  in  His  dealings  with  the  people  of  New- 
port. He  did  not  withdraw  His  hand,  and  cease  to  manifest 
His  power  to  save,  but  on  the  contrary,  proved,  in  the  six  re- 
maining months  of  the  memorable  year  1871,  that  He  was  always 
ready  to  respond  graciously  to  His  peoples'  prayers,  and  to  own 
their  efforts  for  His  glory  in  the  conversion  of  souls.  His  dis- 
ciples were  stirred  up  to  multiply  and  extend  the  means  hereto- 
fore employed — nothing  doubting  as  to  the  results.  The  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  commenced  a  daily  midday  prayer- 
meeting  at  their  rooms,  which  proved  a  means  of  spiritual  refresh- 
ment and  strengthening  to  many.  They  engaged  the  large  Victoria 
Hall,  for  special  Sunday  evening  services,  the  London  Evaaigeliza- 


SPIRITUAL  QUICKENINGS  57 

tion  Society  sending  down,  week  by  week,  experienced  evangel- 
ists. From  twelve  to  fifteen  hundred  persons  were  thus  gathered 
on  each  occasion,  a  large  proportion  being  not  in  the  habit  of 
frequenting  any  place  of  Divine  worship.  The  Lord  caused  His 
blessing  to  rest  upon  this  additional  effort,  and  every  Sunday 
souls  were  won  to  Christ. 

Most  marked  and  evident  was  the  result  of  God's  work  upon  a 
large  portion  of  the  Newport  population.  The  churches  of 
Christ  were  revived.  Christians  were  not  contented  with  a  bare 
spiritual  existence.  The  surpassing  blessedness  of  the  "  higher 
Christian  life  "  was  sought  and  realized  by  very  many.  The  old 
condition,  so  far  removed  from  that  to  which  believers  should 
attain,  became  distasteful,  and  from  the  heart — gladly,  grate- 
fully, lovingly — proceeded  the  cry,  ^* All  for  Jesus!"  Nor  could 
they  who  had  received  so  much  at  the  hands  of  the  Lord  remain 
inactive.  "Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  was  the 
cry  of  many  a  willing  worker ;  and,  in  a  variety  of  ways,  the  de- 
sire to  be  useful  found  welcome  exercise.  And  more  than,  per- 
haps, at  any  time  before.  Christians  discovered  that,  notwith- 
standing all  minor  differences,  they  could  "  love  one  another, 
with  a  pure  heart,  fervently." 

The  people  of  the  world  were,  at  the  first,  evidently  perplexed 
by  what  they  witnessed.  The  confession  was  again  and  again 
made,  "  I  cannot  understand  it."  In  some  instances  utter  incre- 
dulity was  expressed ;  while  not  a  few  attributed  it  to  a  sort  of 
fanatical  excitement,  the  effects  of  which  would  soon  pass  away. 
The  people  o^  the  world  could  not  be  expected  to  form  a  right 
judgment  upon  such  a  subject.  It  lay  beyond  them  altogether; 
and  their  opinion  of  it  could  not  possibly  possess  any  value.  To 
the  unconverted,  the  operations  of  God's  Spirit  must  ever  be  an 
enigma  which  they  cannot  explain.  The  Inspired  Word  tells  us, 
"  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God ; 
for  they  are  foolishness  to  him;  neither  can  he  know  them,  be- 
cause they  are  spiritually  discerned."     That  is  decisive. 

But  what  a  solemn  season  is  it  to  a  congregation — to  an  entire 
community — when  God  thus  wondrously  makes  bare  His  arm 
and  manifests  His  saving  power ! 

In  concluding  this  narrative  of  God's  great  work  at  Newport, 
to  what  shall  we  trace  it,  so  far  as  man  is  concerned?  Shall  it 
not  be,  first,  to  earnest,  believing  persevering  prayer  "  for  this 
very  thing;  "  and  secondly,  to  the  real  preaching  of  a  real  Gospel t 


58  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Our  Lord's  words  are:  "  If  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth  as 
touching  anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of 
my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  Surely,  this  assurance  ought  to 
be  sufficient.  And  as  to  the  preaching,  of  what  avail  is  it  unless 
a  real  Gospel  be  preached?  It  is  to  be  feared  there  is  much  un- 
reality in  the  preaching  of  the  present  day.  If  men  are  really 
sinners — perishing  sinners — then  away  with  theorizing,  with  spec- 
ulating, with  mere  "  opinions  "  and  "  views."  Away,  too,  with 
all  dead  "  sermonizing,"  be  it  never  so  correctly  and  artistically 
done.  The  need  of  men's  souls  is  awfully  real :  let  them  hear 
of  a  God  really  waiting  to  be  gracious; — of  a  Jesus  really  able 
to  save  to  the  uttermost  and  as  willing  as  he  is  able; — of  an  all- 
sufficient  atonement  really  made  and  accepted; — of  the  precious 
blood  of  Christ,  that  can  really  cleanse  from  all  sin ; — of  a  Holy 
Spirit  really  given  to  regenerate,  guide,  comfort,  teach,  and 
sanctify  men's  souls.  Let  them  hear  of  a  real  heaven — a  real 
hell — a  real  eternity;  of  real  pardon  for  the  guilty — real  peace — 
real  joy — real  life;  of  a  real  approach  of  the  sinner  to  the  feet 
of  a  present  Savior — of  a  real  acceptance  of  Jesus,  and  a  real 
surrender  to  Him,  and  then  a  real  and  most  blessed  disciple- 
ship.  Away  with  mere  ideas  !  with  mere  "  hopes  "  and  "  trusts !  " 
with  all  uncertainty  and  unreality ! 

This  reality  of  praying,  preaching,  and  hearing  was  at  New- 
port, the  secret  of  the  conversion  of  so  large  a  number  of  souls 
to  Christ — through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Why  may  not  such  a  result  be  brought  to  pass,  wherever 
sinners  are  found?  Doubtless,  the  fear  of  the  world's  frown, 
prejudice,  routine,  dead  formalism,  a  dread  of  "  irregularities " 
and  of  "  excitement "  may  hinder ;  but  should  not  all  hindrances 
be  surmounted  for  Christ's  sake,  and  that  souls  may  be  saved? 

O  for  reality  in  the  praying  of  God's  people,  reality  in  the 
preaching  of  God's  ministers !  O  for  men  to  preach,  and  people 
to  pray,  who  have  themselves  been  brought  into  a  condition  of 
conscious  acceptance — pardon — life;  who  themselves  are  "t» 
Christ,"  and  who  know,  in  their  own  daily  experience,  the  sweet- 
ness of  that  "  peace  of  God "  which  "  passeth  all  understand- 
ing," and  of  that  "  joy "  which  is  "  unspeakable  and  full  of 
glory."  O  for  reality!  A  real  lifting  up  of  Jesus  in  the  midst 
of  perishing  sinners — not  that  "  doctrines  "  or  "  views  "  (be  they 
ever  so  correct)  may  be  set  forth,  discussed,  demonstrated, — but 
that  the  guilty  may  draw  near — may  look — may  live !    O  for  the 


SPIRITUAL  QUICKENINGS  59 

"  real  presence  "  of  Jesus  in  our  assemblies, — the  real  coming 
of  the  sin-burdened  to  Him  there  and  then, — and  the  real  recep- 
tion from  His  willing  hands  of  a  most  real  salvation ! 

So  wrote  in  substance,  the  original  narrator  of  God's 
work  at  Newport;  and  we  seek  to  perpetuate  and  extend 
this  testimony  to  one  of  the  most  deep-reaching  and  re- 
markable spiritual  movements  of  the  last  half  century,  be- 
cause we  are  confident  that  God  means  the  whole  church 
to  learn  a  lesson  from  it. 

That  lesson  is  manifold  in  instruction  altho  it  all  bears 
in  one  direction.  This  solemn  story  of  Divine  dealing 
lays  peculiar  stress  upon  united  prayer,  a  pure  Gospel, 
hand  to  hand  contact  with  souls,  and  simple  faith  in  God's 
present  power  to  save.  Here  was  no  grand  array  of 
agencies,  no  unusual  and  striking  combinations — no  far- 
famed  evangelist  sent  for  to  inaugurate  a  revival,  no  ap- 
peal to  novelty,  nothing  dramatic,  spectacular,  sensational. 
The  whole  work  began  in  the  prayers  of  a  few  fervent 
believers  for  the  church  with  which  they  were  connected, 
and  particularly  their  own  minister.  Their  prayers  first 
brought  to  him  new  blessing  and  new  power  in  preach- 
ing; then,  as  souls  were  won,  the  work  spread  to  other 
congregations ;  the  circle  of  prayer  expanded  and  became 
more  inclusive;  differences  of  doctrine  and  polity  were 
forgotten  in  the  bond  of  unity ;  variety  of  congregational 
life  was  merged  into  community  of  work  for  souls.  As 
aid  was  needed,  the  most  spirit-filled  helpers  were  sought 
— and  dependence  was  never  transferred  from  God  to 
man,  but  the  power  of  a  God-given  Gospel  and  of  a  God- 
given  Spirit  constantly  and  reverently  recognized. 

Contrast  all  this  with  modern  efforts  to  secure  revival. 
A  private  pamphlet,  prepared  by  a  certain  evangelist  as  a 
guide  to  committees  who  were  making  ready  for  his  com- 
ing, proved  to  be  shockingly  full  of  dependence  on  "  busi- 


6o  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ness  methods,"  such  as  advertising  striking  announce- 
ments, big  posters,  etc.,  etc, — he  would  have  everything 
done  to  create  a  pubHc  furore  in  advance.  This  is  the 
way  of  the  world,  and  it  is  now  fast  becoming  the  way 
of  the  church.  Boston  wanted  a  revival ;  and  Mr.  Moody 
must  be  at  Tremont  Temple,  and  Sam.  Jones  and  Francis 
Murphy  at  other  "  temples  " — men  whom  the  people  will 
flock  to  hear  must  be  got — so  said  an  acute  observer,  as  he 
contrasted  the  revivals  of  fifty  years  ago  with  those  of 
to-day.  We  design  no  reflection  on  either  of  the  above- 
named  evangelists,  while  we  would  emphasize  the  fact,  that, 
for  a  true  revival  whose  results  are  to  be  lasting,  depend- 
ence must  be  first  of  all  on  God,  not  on  man;  we  must 
magnify  the  messenger  less,  and  the  message  and  the 
Spirit,  more.  The  most  wide-reaching  revivals  of  this 
century  have  been  associated  with  the  most  unexpected 
times,  methods  and  men — a  surprise  often  to  those  through 
whom  they  were  wrought.  They  have  been  preceded  by 
fasting  and  prayer,  beginning  often  in  a  union  of  prayer 
between  two  or  three  burdened  souls.  For  instance,  a 
few  young  men,  who  could  find  no  better  place  to  meet, 
went  into  a  church  belfry,  unwarmed,  tho  in  winter,  and 
there  sought  blessing  for  the  congregation ;  their  numbers 
slowly  increased  until  the  unfinished  room  was  too  strait 
for  them ;  and  while  as  yet  their  meeting  was  scarce  known 
to  the  congregation,  a  mighty  flood  of  blessing  was  al- 
ready outpoured.  In  another  case  a  very  ordinary 
preacher,  speaking  to  his  own  people  about  parental  duty 
and  responsibility,  felt  moved  to  call  on  parents,  impressed 
with  their  own  unfaithfulness,  to  come  from  their  seats 
and  stand  in  the  aisle  in  token  of  repentance  and  earnest 
seeking  for  blessing.  Out  of  the  pews  moved  fathers  and 
mothers,  until  the  aisles  were  filled  and  they  crowded  about 
the  communion  table — and  the  place  was  turned  in  a 
Bochim. 


■^N  B  R  A  ;f  y 

a>frvERsiTy 
SPIRITUAL  QUICKENINGS  ^J,CAi6gogS! 

We  are  getting  away  from  dependence  on  ordinary 
means  of  grace,  whenever  we  do  not  expect  any  widespread 
blessing  on  the  preaching  of  the  simple  Gospel  and  on 
prayer,  and  on  personal  contact  with  souls.  We  must  have 
several  churches  united,  and  great  meetings  with  distin- 
guished evangelists  and  great  choirs  with  far-famed  Gospel 
singers,  or  we  look  for  no  divine  outpourings.  All  this  is 
unscriptural,  unspiritual,  abnormal.  The  Gospel  would  be  a 
failure  if  it  were  not.  And  because  our  churches,  and 
pastors,  and  the  people  at  large  lose  confidence  in  the 
ordinary  use  of  God-appointed  means,  and  depend  on  ex- 
traordinary efforts  alone,  every  interest  of  the  churches 
is  in  peril.  Even  for  missions  we  must  have  colossal 
meetings — some  president,  ex-president,  governor,  or 
other  celebrity  must  preside — a  great  crowd  got  together 
in  some  way ;  it  matters  little  if  the  speakers  are  not  spirit- 
filled  men,  if  they  are  only  attractive — or  if  the  assemblies 
be  not  composed  of  the  more  devout,  provided  the  numbers 
are  large  and  the  elite  are  there !  Such  are  the  unspoken 
sentiments  which  too  often  guide  the  arrangements,  repel 
the  Spirit  of  God  and  forfeit  blessing.  If  the  church 
wants  greater  prosperity  in  the  life  of  her  members,  and 
in  the  abundance  and  constancy  of  her  benevolent  offer- 
ings, there  must  be  more  honor  put  upon  the  Holy  Spirit, 
more  believing  prayer  and  faith  in  God's  promises.  God*s 
arm  is  not  shortened  nor  His  ear  heavy,  but  there  are 
modes  of  doing  and  attitudes  of  being  which  He  will  never 
own  with  the  sanction  of  His  blessing. 

Let  any  pastor  undertake  in  his  own  congregation  and 
parish  work  to  follow  a  few  simple  rules,  and  see  the  re- 
sult: 

I.  Get  himself  thoroughly  right  zvith  God,  by  abandon- 
ing every  known  sin  or  doubtful  indulgence,  and  seeking 
first  of  all  for  himself  the  very  type  of  life  and  character 
which  he  craves  for  his  people. 


62  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

2.  Trust  himself  absolutely  to  the  Gospel  as  the  power 
of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God  unto  salvation,  and  expect 
that  God's  word,  faithfully  preached,  will  not  return  to 
Him  void,  in  a  single  instance. 

3.  Give  himself  to  prayer — giving  time  enough  to  get 
the  sense  of  God  in  the  closet ;  and  never  leaving  the  place 
of  supplication  until  he  gets  a  divine  vision — a  new  im- 
partation  of  life  and  power. 

4.  Go  himself  to  seek  individuals — not  depending  on 
mere  pulpit  exhortations — ^but  remembering  that  souls  are 
won  by  individual  approach,  and  that  all  such  contact  will 
make  his  preaching  more  personal  and  effective. 

5.  Keep  himself  from  all  direct  or  indirect  dependence 
on  man ;  avoid  seeking  men's  applause,  or  looking  to  man's 
patronage  for  support  and  encouragement.  Let  him  study 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  aim  at  an  apostolic  church 
life. 

6.  Live  himself  a  life  of  faith,  depending  on  God  for  his 
support,  daring  to  cut  loose  from  the  pew  system  and  take 
his  support  from  voluntary  offerings;  and  sedulously  cul- 
tivate in  his  people  the  same  spirit  of  direct  leaning  upon 
God. 

7.  Yearn  himself  over  a  lost  world — cherishing  a  mis- 
sionary spirit,  and  claiming  the  entrance  into  the  holiest 
as  the  intercessor's  place  and  privilege ;  and  educating  his 
people  to  regard  missions  as  the  indispensable  proof  and 
fruit  of  all  spiritual  life. 

No  man  could  follow  seven  such  simple  rules  and 
patiently  wait,  without  seeing  a  mighty  work  of  God  in 
his  own  life  and  sphere  of  labor.  And  it  is  only  in  such 
a  new  level  of  spiritual  life  and  character  and  conduct 
of  God's  work  that  the  permanent  revival  of  missions 
is  to  be  found.  The  stream  needs  a  source  more  abundant 
and  elevated — then  the  channel  will  be  full  and  the  cur- 
rent rapid.    God  is  speaking,  and  it  is  not  in  this  case. 


SPIRITUAL  QUICKENINGS  63 

out  of  the  cloud — no  mystery  attends  His  utterance.  All 
the  great  spiritual  movements  of  the  century  have  hinged 
on  supernatural  interposition  in  answer  to  believing 
prayer.  If  we  are  to  have  other  such  divine  interposi- 
tions, other  intercessors  must  be  found,  mighty  through 
the  same  means  which  were  used  by  Job  and  Samuel, 
Elijah  and  Daniel. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  THE  PRAYER-SPIRIT 

The  pivot  of  piety  is  prayer.  A  pivot  is  of  double  use : 
it  acts  as  a  fastener  and  as  a  center ;  it  holds  in  place,  and 
it  is  the  axis  of  revolution.  Prayer  is  also  the  double  se- 
cret: it  keeps  steadfast  in  faith,  and  it  helps  to  all  holy 
activity.  Hence,  as  surely  as  God  is  lifting  His  people  in 
these  latter  times  to  a  higher  level  of  spirituality,  and 
moving  them  to  a  more  unselfish  and  self-denying  serv- 
ice, there  will  be  new  emphasis  laid  upon  supplication,  and 
especially  upon  intercession. 

This  revival  of  the  praying-spirit,  if  not  first  in  order 
of  development,  is  first  in  order  of  importance,  for  without 
it  there  is  no  advance.  Generally,  if  not  uniformly,  prayer 
is  both  starting-point  and  goal  to  every  movement  in 
which  are  the  elements  of  permanent  progress.  Whenever 
the  church  is  aroused  and  the  world's  wickedness  arrested, 
somebody  has  been  praying.  If  the  secret  history  of  all 
true  spiritual  advance  could  be  written  and  read,  there 
would  be  found  some  intercessors  who,  like  Job,  Samuel, 
Daniel,  Elijah,  Paul  and  James,  like  Jonathan  Edwards, 
William  Carey,  George  Miiller  and  Hudson  Taylor,  have 
been  led  to  shut  themselves  in  the  secret  place  with  God, 
and  have  labored  fervently  in  prayers.  And,  as  the  start- 
ing-point is  thus  found  in  supplication  and  intercession, 
so  the  final  outcome  must  be  that  God's  people  shall  have 
learned  to  pray ;  otherwise  there  will  be  rapid  reaction  and 
disastrous  relapse  from  the  better  conditions  secured. 

Patient  and  long  continued  study  of  the  religious  his- 

64 


REVIVAL  OF  THE  PRAYER-SPIRIT         65 

tory  of  the  race  confirms  the  conviction  that  no  seal  of 
permanence  is  stamped  upon  any  movement,  however 
spiritual  in  appearance  and  tendency,  which  does  not 
sooner  or  later  show  a  decided  revival  of  the  praying  spirit. 

There  is  a  divine  philosophy  behind  this  fact.  The 
greatest  need  is  to  keep  in  close  touch  zvith  God;  the  great- 
est risk  is  the  loss  of  the  sense  of  the  divine.  In  a  world 
where  every  appeal  is  to  the  physical  senses  and  through 
them,  reality  is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  power  of  con- 
tact. What  we  see,  hear,  taste,  touch,  or  smell — what  is 
material  and  sensible — we  can  not  doubt.  The  present 
and  material  absorbs  attention  and  appears  solid,  sub- 
stantial: but  the  future,  the  immaterial,  the  invisible,  the 
spiritual,  seem  vague,  distant,  illusive,  imaginary.  Prac- 
tically the  unseen  has  no  reality  and  no  influence  with  the 
vast  majority  of  mankind.  Even  the  unseen  God  is  to 
them  less  a  verity  than  the  commonest  object  of  vision; 
to  many  He,  the  highest  verity,  is  really  vanity,  while  the 
world's  vanities  are  practically  the  highest  verities. 

God's  great  corrective  for  this  most  disastrous  inversion 
and  pes-version  of  the  true  relation  of  things,  is  prayer. 
"  Enter  into  thy  closet."  There  all  is  silence,  secrecy,  soli- 
tude, seclusion.  Within  that  shut  door,  the  disciple  is  left 
alone — all  others  shut  out,  that  the  suppliant  may  be  shut 
in — with  God.  The  silence  is  in  order  to  the  hearing  of  the 
still,  small  voice  that  is  drowned  in  worldly  clamor,  and 
which  even  a  human  voice  may  cause  to  be  unheard  or  in- 
distinct. The  secrecy  is  in  order  to  a  meeting  with  Him 
who  seeth  in  secret  and  is  best  seen  in  secret.  The  soli- 
tude is  for  the  purpose  of  being  alone  with  One  who  can 
fully  impress  with  His  presence  only  when  there  is  no 
other  presence  to  divert  thought.  The  place  of  seclu- 
sion with  God  is  the  one  school  where  we  learn  that  He  is, 
and  is  the  rewarder  of  those  that  diligently  seek  Him. 
The  closet  is  "  not  only  the  oratory,  it  is  the  ohservator^*' 


66  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

not  for  prayer  only  but  for  prospect — the  wide-reaching, 
clear-seeing  outlook  upon  the  eternal!  The  decline  o| 
prayer  is  the  decay  of  piety ;  for  prayer  to  cease  altogether, 
would  be  spiritual  death,  for  it  is  to  every  child  of 
God  the  breath  of  life. 

To  keep  in  close  touch  with  God  in  the  secret  chamber 
of  His  presence,  is  the  great  underlying  purpose  of  prayer. 
To  speak  with  God  is  a  priceless  privilege ;  but  what  shall 
be  said  of  having  and  hearing  Him  speak  with  us !  We 
can  tell  Him  nothing  He  does  not  know ;  but  He  can  tell 
us  what  no  imagination  has  ever  conceived,  no  research 
ever  unveiled.  The  highest  of  all  possible  attainments 
is  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  this  is  the  practical  mode  of 
His  revelation  of  Himself.  Even  His  holy  word  needs  to 
be  read  in  the  light  of  the  closet,  if  it  is  understood. 
"  And  when  Moses  was  gone  into  the  tabernacle  of  the 
congregation  to  speak  with  Him,  then  he  heard  the  voice 
of  one  speaking  unto  him  from  off  the  mercy  seat  that 
was  upon  the  ark  of  testimony, — from  between  the  two 
cherubim,  and  he  spoke  unto  him."   Numbers  vii.,  89. 

And,  where  there  is  this  close  touch  with  God,  and  this 
clear  insight  into  His  name  which  is  His  nature,  and  into 
His  word  which  is  His  will  made  known,  there  will  be  a 
new  power  to  walk  with  Him  in  holiness  and  work  with 
Him  in  service.  "  He  made  known  His  tvays  unto  Moses, 
His  acts  unto  the  children  of  Israel."  The  mass  of  the 
people  stood  afar  off  and  saw  His  deeds,  like  the  over- 
throwing of  Pharaoh's  hosts  in  the  Red  Sea;  but  Moses 
drew  near  into  the  thick  darkness  where  God  was,  and 
in  that  thick  darkness  he  found  a  light  such  as  never 
shone  elsewhere,  and  in  that  light  he  read  God's  secret 
plans  and  purposes  and  interpreted  His  wondrous  ways 
of  working. 

All  practical  power  over  sin  and  over  men  depends  on 
maintaining  closet  communion.    Those  who  abide  iu  the 


REVIVAL  OF  THE  PRAYER-SPIRIT        67 

secret  place  with  God  show  themselves  mighty  to  conquer 
evil,  and  strong  to  work  and  to  war  for  God.  They  are 
the  seers  who  read  His  secrets;  they  know  His  will; 
they  are  the  meek  whom  He  guides  in  judgment  and 
teaches  His  way.  They  are  His  prophets,  who  speak  for 
Him  to  others,  and  even  forecast  things  to  come.  They 
watch  the  signs  of  the  times  and  discern  His  tokens  and 
read  His  signals.  We  sometimes  count  as  mystics  those 
who,  like  Savonarola  and  Catharine  of  Siena,  claim  to 
have  communications  from  God ;  to  have  revelations  of  a 
definite  plan  of  God  for  His  Church,  or  for  themselves 
as  individuals,  like  the  reformer  of  Erfurt,  the  founder 
of  the  Bristol  orphanages,  or  the  leader  of  the  China  In- 
land Mission.  But  may  it  not  be  that  we  stumble  at  these 
experiences  because  we  do  not  have  them  ourselves? 
Have  not  many  of  these  men  and  women  proved  by  their 
lives  that  they  were  not  mistaken,  and  that  God  has  led 
them  by  a  way  that  no  other  eye  could  trace? 

But,  for  close  contact  with  the  living  God  in  prayer, 
there  is  another  reason  that  rises  perhaps  to  a  still  higher 
level.  Prayer  not  only  puts  us  in  touch  with  God,  and 
gives  knowledge  of  Him  and  His  ways,  but  it  imparts  to 
us  His  power:  It  is  the  touch  which  brings  virtue  out  of 
Him.  It  is  the  hand  upon  the  pole  of  a  celestial  battery, 
which  charges  us  with  His  secret  life,  energy,  efficiency. 
Things  which  are  impossible  with  man  are  possible  with 
God,  and  with  a  man  in  whom  God  is.  Prayer  is  the  secret 
of  imparted  power  from  God,  and  nothing  else  can  take 
its  place.  Absolute  weakness  follows  the  neglect  of  secret 
communion  with  God — and  the  weakness  is  the  more  de- 
plorable, because  it  is  often  unsuspected,  especially  when 
one  has  never  yet  known  what  true  power  is.  We  see 
men  of  prayer  quietly  achieving  results  of  the  most  sur- 
prising character.  They  have  the  calm  of  God,  no  hurry, 
or  worry,  or  flurry ;  no  anxiety  or  care,  no  excitement  or 


68  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

bustle — they  do  great  things  for  God,  yet  they  are  little 
in  their  own  eyes ;  they  carry  great  loads,  and  yet  are  not 
weary  nor  faint;  they  face  great  crises,  and  yet  are  not 
troubled.  And  those  who  know  not  what  treasures  of 
wisdom  and  strength  and  courage  and  power  are  hidden 
in  God's  pavilion,  wonder  how  it  is.  They  try  to  account 
for  all  this  by  something  in  the  man,  or  his  talent,  or  tact, 
or  favoring  circumstances.  Perhaps  they  try  to  imitate 
such  a  career  by  securing  the  patronage  of  the  rich  and 
mighty,  or  by  dependence  on  organization,  or  fleshly  en- 
ergy— or  what  men  call  "  determination  to  succeed  " — 
they  bustle  about,  labor  incessantly,  appeal  for  money  and 
cooperation,  and  work  out  an  apparent  success,  but  there 
is  none  of  that  Power  of  God  in  it  which  can  not  be  imi- 
tated. They  compass  themselves  about  with  sparks,  but 
there  is  no  fire  of  God;  they  build  up  a  great  structure, 
but  it  is  wood,  hay,  stubble ;  they  make  a  great  noise,  but 
God  is  not  in  the  clamor.  Like  a  certain  preacher  who 
confessed  that,  when  he  felt  no  kindling  of  inspired 
thought  and  feeling,  he  walked  up  and  down  the  pulpit, 
and  shouted  with  all  his  might — they  make  up  for  the  lack 
of  divine  unction  and  spiritual  action  by  carnal  confidence 
and  vehemence.  There  is  a  show  of  energy,  resolution, 
endeavor,  and  often  of  results,  but  behind  all  this  a  lament- 
able and  nameless  deficiency. 

Nothing  is  at  once  so  undisputable  and  so  overawing 
as  the  way  in  which  a  few  men  of  God  live  in  Him  and  He 
in  them.  The  fact  is,  that,  in  the  disciple's  life,  the  funda- 
mental law  is  "  not  I  but  Christ  in  me."  In  a  grandly  true 
sense  there  is  but  one  Worker,  one  Agent,  and  He  divine ; 
and  all  other  so-called  "  workers  "  are  instruments  and 
instruments  only,  in  His  hands.  The  first  quality  of  a 
true  instrument  is  passivity.  An  active  instrument  would 
defeat  its  own  purpose ;  all  its  activity  must  be  dependent 
upon  the  man  who  uses  it.     Sometimes  a  machine  be- 


REVIVAL  OF  THE  PRAYER-SPIRIT        69 

comes  uncontrollable,  and  then  it  not  only  becomes  use- 
less, but  it  works  damage  and  disaster.  What  would  a 
man  do  with  a  plane,  a  knife,  an  axe,  a  bow,  that  had  any 
will  of  its  own  and  moved  of  itself?  Does  it  mean  noth- 
ing when,  in  the  Word  of  God,  we  meet  so  frequently  the 
symbols  of  passive  service — the  rod,  the  staff,  the  saw, 
the  hammer,  the  sword,  the  spear,  the  threshing  instru- 
ment, the  flail,  and,  in  the  New  Testament,  the  vessel? 
Does  it  not  mean  that  a  willful  man  God  can  not  use ;  that 
the  first  condition  of  service  is  that  the  will  is  to  be  so  lost 
in  God's  as  that  it  presents  no  resistance  to  His,  no  persist- 
ence beyond  or  apart  from  His,  and  no  assistance  to 
His?  George  Muller  well  taught  that  we  are  to  wait  to 
know  whether  a  certain  work  is  God's;  then  whether  it  is 
ours,  as  being  committed  to  us ;  but  even  then  we  need  to 
wait  for  God's  way  and  God's  time  to  do  His  own  work, 
otherwise  we  rush  precipitately  into  that  which  He  means 
us  to  do,  but  only  at  His  signal,  or  we  go  on  doing  when 
He  calls  a  halt.  Many  a  true  servant  of  God  has,  like 
Moses,  begun  before  his  Master  was  ready,  or  kept  on 
working  when  his  Master's  time  was  past. 

There  is  one  aspect  of  prayer  to  which  particular  atten- 
tion needs  to  be  called,  because  it  is  strongly  emphasized 
in  the  Word,  and  because  it  is  least  used  in  our  daily  life, 
namely,  intercession. 

This  word,  and  what  underlies  it,  has  a  very  unique  use 
and  meaning  in  Scripture.  It  differs  from  supplication, 
first  in  this,  that  supplication  has  mainly  reference  to  the 
suppliant  and  his  own  supply;  and  again  because  inter- 
cession not  only  concerns  others,  but  largely  implies  the 
need  of  direct  divine  interposition.  There  are  many 
prayers  that  allow  our  cooperation  in  their  answer,  and 
imply  our  activity.  When  we  pray,  "  Give  us  this  day 
our  daily  bread,"  we  go  to  work  to  earn  the  bread  for 
which  we  pray.    That  is  God's  law.    When  we  ask  God  to 


70  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

deliver  us  from  the  evil  one,  we  expect  to  be  sober  and 
vigilant,  and  resist  the  adversary.  This  is  right ;  but  our 
activity  in  many  matters  hinders  the  full  display  of  God's 
power,  and  hence  also  our  impression  of  His  working. 
And  the  deepest  convictions  of  God's  prayer-answering 
are  wrought  in  cases  where  in  the  nature  of  things  we 
are  precluded  from  all  activity  in  promoting  the  result. 

It  will,  therefore,  be  seen  that  the  objection  which  often 
hinders  our  praying,  or  praying  in  confidence  of  results — 
namely,  that  we  are  in  that  particular  case  entirely  help- 
less to  effect  any  result — is  the  grand  reason  for  praying ; 
and  when  such  praying  is  answered,  the  evidence  of  God's 
working  is  irresistible.  It  is  when  we  are  in  trouble  and 
refuge  fails  us,  when  we  are  at  our  wits'  end,  that  it  be- 
comes plain  that  He  saves  us  out  of  our  distresses.  Un- 
belief is  always  ready  to  suggest  that  it  is  not  a  strange 
thing  if  a  prayer  for  the  conversion  of  another  is  an- 
swered, when  we  have  been  bending  every  energy  toward 
the  winning  of  that  soul ;  and  we  find  it  very  hard  to  say 
how  far  the  result  is  traceable  to  God  and  how  far  to  man. 
But  when  one  can  do  nothing  but  cry  to  God,  and  yet  He 
works  mightily  to  save,  unbelief  is  silenced,  or  compelled 
to  confess,  this  is  the  finger  of  God. 

The  Word  of  God  teaches  us  that  intercession  with 
God  is  most  necessary  in  cases  where  man  is  powerless. 
Elijah  is  held  before  us  as  a  great  intercessor  and  the  one 
example  given  in  his  prayer  for  rain.  Yet  in  this  case 
he  could  only  pray;  there  was  nothing  else  he  could  do 
to  unlock  the  heavens  after  three  years  and  a  half  of 
drought.  And  is  there  not  a  touch  of  divine  poetry  in  the 
form  in  which  the  answer  came?  The  rising  cloud  took 
the  shape  of  "  a  man's  hand,"  as  though  to  assure  the 
prophet  how  God  saw  and  heeded  the  suppliant  hand 
raised  to  Him  in  prayer!  Daniel  was  powerless  to  move 
the  king  or  reverse  his  decree ;  all  he  could  do  was  to  "  de- 


REVIVAL  OF  THE  PRAYER-SPIRIT         71 

sire  mercies  of  the  God  of  heaven  concerning  the  secret ;  " 
and  it  was  because  he  could  do  nothing  else,  could  not 
even  guess  at  the  interpretation  when  he  knew  not  even 
the  dream — that  it  was  absolutely  sure  that  God  had  in- 
terposed, and  so  even  the  heathen  king  himself  saw,  felt 
and  confessed. 

All  through  history  certain  crises  have  arisen  when  the 
help  of  man  was  vain.  To  the  formal  Christian,  the  carnal 
disciple,  the  unbelieving  soul,  this  fact,  that  there  is  noth- 
ing that  man  could  do,  makes  prayer  seem  almost  a  folly, 
perhaps  a  farce,  a  waste  of  breath.  But,  to  those  who  best 
know  God,  man's  extremity  is  God's  opportunity,  and  hu- 
man helplessness  is  the  argument  for  praying.  Invariably 
those  whose  faith  in  prayer  is  supernaturally  strong,  are 
those  who  have  most  proved  that  God  has  wrought  by 
their  own  conscious  compulsory  cessation  of  all  their  own 
effort  as  vain  and  hopeless. 

George  Miiller  set  out  to  prove  to  a  half-believing 
church  and  an  unbelieving  world  that  God  does  directly 
answer  prayer ;  and  to  do  this  he  purposely  abstained  from 
all  the  ordinary  methods  of  appeal,  or  of  active  effort  to 
secure  the  housing,  clothing,  and  feeding  of  thousands  of 
orphans.  Rev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor  undertook  to  put  mis- 
sionaries into  Inland  China,  by  dependence  solely  upon 
God,  not  only  asking  no  collections,  but  refusing  them  in 
connection  with  public  meetings.  He  and  his  co-workers 
are  accustomed  to  lay  all  wants  before  the  Lord,  whether 
of  men  or  money,  and  expect  the  answer,  and  it  comes. 
The  study  of  missionary  history  reveals  the  fact  that,  at 
the  very  times  when,  in  utter  despair  of  any  help  but 
God's,  there  has  been  believing  prayer,  the  interposition 
of  God  has  been  most  conspicuously  seen — how  could  it 
be  most  conspicuous  except  amid  such  conditions  ? 

One  of  the  most  encouraging  tokens  of  God's  moving 
in  our  days  is,  therefore,  the  revival  of  the  prayer-spirit, 


72  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

which  is  noticeable  in  the  numerous  "  prayer  circles  "  and 
"  prayer  covenants,"  formed  within  ten  years  past.  In 
Great  Britain  particularly,  intercession  has  been  unusually 
emphasized  of  late.  The  Keswick  movement  has  been 
more  conspicuous  for  prayer  than  for  anything  else.  The 
whole  atmosphere  of  the  convention  has  been  laden  with 
its  fragrance,  and  the  intervals  between  the  meetings  are 
very  largely  filled  up  with  private  supplication,  or  with 
smaller  gatherings  of  two  or  three  or  more  who  seek 
further  converse  with  God.  There  are  organizations  for 
prayer  alone — some  whose  members  do  not  know  each 
other,  or  meet  in  common  assemblies^  but  whose  only  bond 
is  a  covenant  of  daily  supplication  for  one  another  and  for 
objects  of  mutual  interest.  Any  one  who  will  read  the 
two  volumes  in  which  is  told  that  wonderful  story  of  the 
China  Inland  Mission,  will  find  that  beyond  all  else,  be- 
lieving prayer  is  brought  to  the  front,  as  the  condition  of 
all  success.  At  the  Mission  Home,  in  London,  from  morn- 
ing till  night  there  is  one  sacrifice  of  praise  and  prayer; 
and,  at  least  once  a  week,  with  the  map  of  China  in  full 
sight,  the  various  missionaries  and  stations  are  mentioned 
by  name,  individually,  the  peculiar  circumstances  being 
made  known,  which  incite  to  earnest,  sympathetic  suppli- 
cation. And  thus,  both  in  larger  and  smaller  circles  of 
prayer,  the  spirit  of  intercession  has  a  marked  revival. 

This  is  doubtless  the  most  hopeful  sign  as  yet  apparent 
above  the  horizon,  and  it  is  a  signal,  calling  God's  people 
to  a  new  life  of  unselfish  and  believing  prayer.  Every 
church  ought  to  he  a  prayer  circle;  but  this  will  not  be, 
while  we  are  waiting  for  the  whole  body  to  move  together. 
The  mass  of  professing  Christians  have  too  little  hold  on 
God  to  enter  into  such  holy  agreement.  To  all  who  yearn 
for  a  revival  of  the  prayer-spirit,  we  suggest  that,  in  every 
church  a  prayer  circle  be  formed,  without  regard  to  num- 
bers.    Let  the  pastor  unite  with  himself  any  man  or 


REVIVAL  OF  THE  PRAYER-SPIRIT         73 

woman  in  whom  he  discerns  peculiar  spiritual  life  and 
power,  and,  without  publicity  or  any  effort  to  enlarge  the 
little  company,  begin  to  lay  before  God  any  matter  de- 
manding special  divine  guidance  and  help.  Without  any 
public  invitation — which  might  only  draw  unprepared 
people  into  a  formal  association — it  will  be  found  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  will  enlarge  the  circle  as  He  fits  others,  or 
finds  others  fit,  to  enter  it — and  thus  quietly  and  without 
observation  the  little  company  of  praying  souls  will  grow 
as  fast  as  God  means  it  shall.  Let  a  record  be  kept  of 
every  definite  petition  laid  before  God — for  such  a  prayer 
circle  should  be  only  with  reference  to  very  definite  mat- 
ters— and  as  God  interposes,  let  the  record  of  his  inter- 
position be  carefully  kept,  and  become  a  new  inspiration 
to  believing  prayer.  Such  a  resort  to  united  intercession 
would  transform  a  whole  church,  remove  dissensions,  rec- 
tify errors,  secure  harmony  and  unity,  and  promote  Holy 
Ghost  administration  and  spiritual  life  and  growth,  beyond 
all  other  possible  devices.  If  in  any  church  the  pastor  is 
not  a  man  who  could  or  would  lead  in  such  a  movement, 
let  two  or  three,  who  feel  the  need,  meet  and  begin  by 
prayer  for  him.  In  this  matter  there  should  be  no  waiting 
for  anybody  else;  if  there  be  but  one  believer  who  has 
power  with  God,  let  such  an  one  begin  intercessory  prayer. 
God  will  bring  to  the  side  of  such  an  intercessor  others 
whom  He  has  made  ready  to  act  as  supplicators. 

Not  long  since,  in  a  church  in  Scotland,  a  minister  sud- 
denly began  to  preach  with  unprecedented  power.  The 
whole  congregation  was  aroused  and  sinners  marvelously 
saved.  He  himself  did  not  understand  the  new  endue- 
ment.  In  a  dream  of  the  night  it  was  strangely  suggested 
to  him  that  the  whole  blessing  was  traceable  to  one  poor 
old  woman  who  was  stone  deaf,  but  who  came  regularly  to 
church,  and  being  unable  to  hear  a  word,  spent  all  the  time 
in  prayer  for  the  preacher  and  individual  hearers.    In  the 


74  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

biography  of  C.  G.  Finney  similar  facts  are  recorded  of 
"  Father  Nash/'  Abel  Cleary,  and  others.  In  Newport, 
England,  is  a  praying  circle  of  twelve  men,  who  have  met 
for  thirty  years  every  Saturday  night  to  pray  for  definite 
blessings.  Not  one  death  occurred  in  their  number  during 
a  whole  quarter  century.  The  first  impulse  leading  to  this 
weekly  meeting  was  interest  in  Mr.  Spurgeon's  ministry. 
They  felt  that  with  his  great  access  to  men  he  had  need  of 
peculiar  power  from  above,  and  on  the  Sabbath  following 
their  first  meeting,  he  began  to  preach  with  such  increased 
unction  as  attracted  general  notice. 

Examples  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely.  But  the  one 
thing  we  would  make  prominent  is  this :  that  above  all  else, 
God  is  calling  His  people  to  new  prayer.  He  wills  that 
"  men  pray  everywhere,  lifting  up  holy  hands  without 
wrath  and  doubting;"  that,  iirst  of  all,  supplication, 
prayers,  intercessions,  and  giving  of  thanks  be  made  for  all 
men.  *  And  if  this  be  done,  first  of  all,  every  other  most 
blessed  result  will  follow.  God  waits  to  he  asked.  He  has 
the  fountains  of  blessing  which  He  puts  at  the  disposal  of 
His  praying  saints.  They  are  sealed  fountains  to  the  un- 
godly and  the  unbelieving.  But  there  is  one  Key  that  un- 
locks even  heaven's  gates ;  one  secret  that  puts  connecting 
channels  between  those  eternal  fountains  and  ourselves, 
that  key,  that  secret,  is  prevailing  prayer. 

In  London  an  enterprising  newspaper  has  a  private  wire 
connecting  with  Edinburgh,  in  order  to  command  the  latest 
freshest  news  from  the  Scottish  Athens.  One  night  the 
clerk,  who  was  out  to  collect  local  items,  returned  late  and 
could  not  get  in — he  had  forgotten  to  take  his  night-key. 
He  thought  a  moment.  It  was  of  no  use  to  knock  at  the 
door — the  only  fellow-clerk  in  the  building  was  too  far 
away  to  hear  him.  He  stepped  to  a  neighboring  telegraph 
office  and  sent  a  message  to  Edinburgh :  "  Tell that 

*  I  Tim.  ii.  i,  8. 


REVIVAL  OF  THE  PRAYER-SPIRIT         75 

I  am  at  the  street  door  and  can  not  get  in."  In  twenty 
minutes  the  door  was  unfastened  and  he  was  at  his  desk  in 
the  office.  The  shortest  zvay  to  get  at  the  man  in  the 
fourth  story  was  by  Edinburgh.  How.  long  will  it  take  us 
to  learn  that  our  shortest  route  to  the  man  next  door  is  by 
way  of  God's  throne!  God  has  no  greater  controversy 
with  His  people  to-day  than  this,  that,  with  boundless 
promises  to  believing  prayer,  there  are  so  few  who  actually 
give  themselves  unto  intercession. 

"  And  there  is  none  that  calleth  upon  Thy  name. 
That  stirreth  up  himself  to  take  hold  of  Thee."— Isa.  Ixiv,  7. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  PRAYER-BASIS  OF  MISSION  WORK 

It  is  of  the  highest  consequence  to  recognize  that  the 
work  of  missions  has,  as  its  central  encouragement  and  in- 
spiration, the  promise  of  a  supernatural  presence  and 
power.  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of 
the  age,"  means  nothing  less  than  that,  in  a  special  sense, 
an  exceptional  manner,  the  omnipresent  One  will  accom- 
pany the  march  of  the  missionary  band. 

This  is  the  most  emphatic  of  all  the  arguments  for  mis- 
sions, and  the  all-sufficient  compensation  for  the  self-sac- 
rifices which  a  true  missionary  life  always  and  necessarily 
implies  and  involves.  It  is,  however,  a  truth  that  belongs 
to  the  highest  altitude  both  of  divine  teaching  and  human 
experience,  that  the  one  way  for  man  to  command  the  su- 
pernatural lies  through  the  closet.  Real  prayer  is  a  divine 
inbreathing  and  therefore  has  a  divine  outreaching  y  it  is 
of  the  essence  of  the  miraculous  and  works  essentially 
supernatural  results. 

The  power  of  prayer  is  the  perpetual  sign  of  God^s  work- 
ing in  the  human  soul  and  among  men,  the  standing 
miracle  of  the  ages.  Upon  no  one  thing  does  the  word  of 
God  so  frequently  and  heavily  lay  the  stress  of  both  in- 
junction and  invitation;  to  no  one  agency  or  instrumen- 
tality are  effects  so  marvelous  both  assured  and  attributed. 
Nothing  marks  the  decline  from  primitive  piety,  and  the 
virtual  apostasy  of  the  church,  more  than  the  secondary 
place  assigned  to  prayer  both  in  the  individual  life  and  in 
public  worship,  and  the  formalism  that  substitutes  litur- 

76 


PRAYER-BASIS  OF  MISSION  WORK        77 

g^cal,  or,  still  worse,  mechanically  tame,  stale,  lifeless  say- 
ing for  prayers,  for  true  prayers  found  first  of  all  in  the 
suppliant's  heart. 

Prayer  can  be  interpreted  only  by  conceding  a  super- 
human element.  While  much  of  the  benefit  and  blessing 
that  comes  to  praying  souls  may  doubtless  be  traced  to 
natural  and  secondary  causes,  in  numberless  other  cases 
we  are  compelled  either  to  deny  the  fact  of  the  answer  or 
else  to  admit  a  supernatural  factor.  If  we  deny  divine  in- 
terposition, there  are  events  and  experiences  in  the  actual 
history  of  every  praying  soul  which,  without  that  inter- 
position, remain  as  inexplicable  as  the  deHverance  of  the 
three  holy  children  from  the  furnace,  or  of  Daniel  from 
the  den  of  lions. 

Jonathan  Edwards  lived  on  the  verge  of  the  unseen 
world,  and  was  in  peculiar  contact  and  communication 
with  it.  From  ten  years  of  age,  his  prayers  were  aston- 
ishing, alike  for  the  faith  they  exhibited  and  the  effects 
they  wrought  or  secured.  The  intellect  of  Edwards  re- 
minds of  a  cherub,  and  his  heart,  of  a  seraph ;  and,  there- 
fore, we  can  distrust  neither  his  self-knowledge  nor  his 
candor.  His  communion  with  God  was  neither  a  dream 
of  an  excited  fancy  nor  an  invention  of  an  impostor.  Yet 
it  was  so  rapt  and  rapturous,  that  the  extraordinary  views 
which  he  obtained  of  the  glory,  love  and  grace  of  the  Son 
of  God  so  overcame  him  that  for  an  hour  he  would  be 
flooded  with  tears,  weeping  aloud.  Such  prayer  brought 
power  not  less  wonderful  than  that  of  Peter  at  Pentecost. 
Edwards's  sermon  at  Enfield,  on  "  Sinners  in  the  hands  of 
an  angry  God,"  terrible  as  it  was,  and  delivered  without  a 
gesture,  was  clothed  with  such  unction  that  it  produced 
unparalleled  effects.  Hearers  leaped  to  their  feet  and 
clasped  the  pillars  of  the  meeting-house,  as  if  they  literally 
felt  their  feet  sliding  into  ruin. 

God  chose  that  devout,  man,  in  the  midst  of  an  apostasy 


78  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

from  God  that  was  well-nigh  a  wreck  of  religious  faith  in 
England  and  America,  to  turn,  by  his  prayers,  the  entire 
tide  of  church-life  from  channels  of  worldliness  and  wick- 
edness into  a  new  course  of  evangelistic  and  missionary 
activity.  In  1747,  Jonathan  Edwards  pealed  out  his  trum- 
pet call,  summoning  the  whole  Christian  Church  to  prayer. 
In  his  remarkable  tract  in  which  he  pleads  for  a  "  visible 
union  of  God's  people  in  an  extraordinary  prayer,"  he  re- 
fers to  the  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  observed  the  year 
previous  at  Northampton,  and  which  was  followed  that 
same  night  by  the  utter  dispersion  of  the  French  Armada, 
under  the  Duke  d'Anville ;  and  Edwards  adds,  "  This  is  the 
nearest  parallel  with  God's  wonderful  works  of  old  in  times 
of  Moses,  Joshua  and  Hezekiah,  of  any  that  have  been  in 
these  latter  ages  of  the  world." 

That  trumpet  peal  to  universal  prayer,  one  hundred  and 
fifty-three  years  ago,  marks  a  turning  point  especially  in 
modern  missions.  Edwards  felt  that  only  direct  divine  in- 
terposition would  meet  the  emergency,  and  his  whole  tract 
shows  that  he  expected  such  divine  working  in  answer  to 
believing  prayer.  The  results  that  followed  reveal  anew 
beyond  a  doubt,  that,  if  the  Church  of  God  will  but  pray  as 
she  ought,  every  other  needed  blessing  and  enlargement 
will  come  to  her  missionary  work.  To  emphasize  this  truth 
and  get  an  intelligent  survey  of  the  state  o£  the  world  and 
the  church  as  it  was  then;  this  only  would  reveal  the 
desperate  darkness  that  drove  disciples  to  the  mountain 
tops  for  communion  with  God  and  kept  them  on  their 
knees  till  the  light  broke  forth  as  the  morning. 

At  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth  century  spiritual  deso- 
lation was  so  widespread,  that  a  prospect  more  hopelessly 
dreary  has  not  alarmed  true  disciples  since  the  dark  ages. 
Hume,  Gibbon,  Bolingbroke,  the  giants  of  infidelity,  were 
acknowledged  leaders  in  English  society.  In  France,  Vol- 
taire, Rousseau  and  Madame  de  Pompadour  ruled  at  the 


PRAYER-BASIS  OF  MISSION  WORK        79 

royal  court,  and  at  the  tribune  of  the  people.  In  Germany, 
Frederick  the  Great,  the  friend  and  companion  of  Voltaire, 
flaunted  his  deistic  opinions  and  dealt  out  to  his  antagonists 
kicks  with  his  thick  boots.  "  Flippancy  and  frivolity  in 
the  church,  deism  in  theology,  lasciviousness  in  the  novel 
and  the  drama,"  these  were  the  conditions  that  prevailed 
in  England,  which  Isaac  Taylor  declared  was  "  in  a  condi- 
tion of  virtual  heathenism/'  while  Samuel  Blair  affirmed 
that  in  America  "  religion  lay  a-dying." 

And  what  was  the  pulpit  of  those  days  doing  to  offset 
this  awful  condition  of  apostasy  ?  Nothing !  Natural  the- 
ology without  a  single  distinctive  doctrine  of  Christianity ; 
cold,  formal  morality  or  barren  orthodoxy  constituted  the 
staple  teaching  both  in  the  established  church  and  the  dis- 
senting chapel.  The  best  sermons,  so-called,  were  only 
ethical  essays,  a  thousand  of  which  held  not  enough  gospel 
truth  to  guide  one  soul  to  the  Savior  of  sinners.  There 
seemed  to  be  a  tacit  agreement  to  let  the  devil  alone;  in- 
stead of  Satan  being  chained  so  that  he  could  work  no 
damage,  it  was  the  church  that  w.as  in  bonds  so  that  she 
could  work  no  deliverance.  The  grand  and  weighty  truths 
for  whose  sake  Hooper  and  Latimer  dared  the  stake,  and 
Baxter  and  Bunyan  went  to  jail,  seemed  like  the  relics  of 
a  remote  past,  curiosities  of  archaeology  and  paleontology. 
A  flood  of  irreligion,  immorality,  infidelity,  flooded  the  very 
domain  of  Christendom.  Collins  and  Tindall  stigmatized 
Christianity  as  a  system  of  priestcraft.  Woolston  declared 
the  miracles  of  the  Bible  to  be  allegories  and  myths,  and 
Whiston  denounced  them  as  impositions  and  frauds.  By 
Clark  and  Priestly  Arianism  and  Socinianism  were  openly 
taught,  and  to  heresy  was  thus  given  the  currency  of  fash- 
ionable sanction.  Blackstone,  the  legal  commentator,  went 
the  rounds  from  church  to  church  till  he  had  heard  every 
clergyman  of  note  in  London;  and  his  melancholy  testi- 
mony was  that  not  one  discourse  had  he  heard  among 


8o  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

them  all  which  had  in  it  more  Christianity  than  the  writings 
of  Cicero,  or  from  which  he  could  gather  whether  the 
preacher  were  a  disciple  of  Confucius  or  Zoroaster,  Ma- 
homet or  Christ! 

Archbishop  Seeker  in  one  phrase  gave  as  "  the  char- 
acteristic of  the  age  "  an  "  open  disregard  of  religion." 
The  bishops  themselves  led  the  van  in  the  hosts  of  the 
worldly  and  gay ;  Archbishop  Cornwallis  gave  at  Lambeth 
Palace  balls  and  routs  so  scandalous  that  even  the  king 
interfered.  It  was  jocosely  said  that  the  best  way  to  stop 
Whitefield  in  his  work  of  reform  was  to  put  on  his  head 
the  bishop's  miter. 

It  was  such  a  state  of  religion  and  morals,  of  corrupted 
doctrine  and  perverted  practice,  that  bowed  true  disciples 
in  great  humiliation  and  drove  them  to  God  in  sheer 
despair  of  human  help.  They  felt  as  David  did  when  he 
wrote  the  twelfth  Psalm: 

"  Help,  Lord !  for  the  godly  man  ceaseth, 
For  the  faithful  fail  from  among  the  children  of  men." 

Over  the  entire  extent  of  the  Christian  Church  there 
began  to  be  little  praying  circles  of  devout  souls  who  en- 
treated God  once  more  to  pluck  His  hand  out  of  His  bosom 
and  show  Himself  mighty  to  deliver. 

Of  such  a  character  was  that  little  gathering  v/hich, 
eighteen  years  before  Edwards  blew  that  clarion  blasts  be- 
gan to  meet  in  Lincoln  College,  Oxford ;  when  John  Wes- 
ley and  his  brother  Charles,  Mr.  Morgan  and  Mr.  Kirk- 
ham,  burdened  with  the  awful  condition  of  an  apostate 
church,  conferred  and  prayed  together  for  such  a  reviving 
as  could  come  only  from  the  breath  of  God.  Six  years 
after  these  meetings  began,  there  were  only  fourteen  who 
came  together;  but,  out  of  that  humble  meeting  where 
prayer  to  God  was  the  entire  dependence,  was  born  Meth- 
odism, the  mightiest  movement  of  modern  times,  save  only 


PRAYER-BASIS  OF  MISSION  WORK        8i 

the  Moravian,  in  the  direction  of  evangelical  faith  and 
evangelistic  work. 

The  God  of  prayer  heard  these  suppliant  voices,  and 
Whitefield  and  the  Wesley  brothers  began  to  preach  with 
tongues  burning  with  pentecostal  flames.  They  were  re- 
sisted by  a  rigid,  frigid  church;  but  driven  into  the  open 
fields  and  commons,  they  so  reached  the  masses  of  the 
people  as  they  could  never  have  reached  them  within  chapel 
walls. 

At  this  precise  juncture,  Jonathan  Edwards,  in  America, 
profoundly  impressed  with  the  dreadful  condition  of  both 
the  world  and  the  church,  urged  upon  the  churches  of  this 
country  concerted  prayer;  and  across  the  seas  another 
trumpet  peal  echoed  his  own,  summoning  all  disciples  to 
unite  in  special  prayer  "  for  the  effusion  of  God's  spirit 
upon  all  the  churches,  and  upon  the  whole  habitable  earth." 
The  era  of  prayer  was  now  fairly  inaugurated.  In  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  Ireland  and  Wales,  and  throughout  New 
England  and  the  Middle  States,  believers  began  to  pray 
for  a  specific  blessing  and  to  come  together  for  united  sup- 
plication. 

We  have  not  space  to  trace  minutely  the  remarkable  in- 
terpositions of  God;  but  a  few  salient  facts  stand  boldly 
out  in  the  historic  page.  In  1780,  under  the  influence  of  the 
Haldanes,  Andrew.  Fuller,  Rowland  Hill,  Sutcliffe  and 
others  like  them,  there  came  pulsing  over  the  church  the 
mighty  tidal  wave  of  genuine  revival.  William  Grim- 
shaw,  William  Romaine,  Daniel  Rowlands,  John  Berridge, 
Henry  Venn,  Walker  of  Truro,  James  Heivey,  Toplady, 
Fletcher  of  Madeley — these  are  some  of  the  men  that  be- 
longed in  this  grand  apostolical  succession  that  during  this 
period  of  reformation  kept  feeding  and  fanning  these  re- 
vival fires.  How  was  it  that,  in  such  numbers  and  at 
such  a  crisis,  they  were  raised  up  to  stem  the  tide  that 
with  resistless  momentum  threatened  to  sweep  away  every 


82  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

landmark  of  religion  and  morality?  But  one  answer  can 
be  given ;  Jehovah  of  Hosts  was  conspicuously  answering 
prayer.  The  full  significance  of  those  concerted  prayers 
can  never  be  fully  known  until  eternity  opens  its  august 
doors  and  unfolds  its  sealed  books.  But  we  can  even  now 
trace  to  those  prayers,  at  the  darkest  hour  of  modern 
church  history,  the  inauguration  of  the  new  era  of  uni- 
versal missions.  Out  of  these  prayers  came  the  establish- 
ment of  the  monthly  concert  of  prayer  in  1784,  the  found- 
ing of  the  first  distinctively  foreign  missionary  society  of 
England  in  1792,  the  consecration  of  William  Carey  to 
Oriental  missions  in  1793,  with  all  the  wonderful  work  of 
that  pioneer  who,  with  his  co-laborers,  secured  the  transla- 
tion of  the  Word  of  God  into  40  different  tongues,  and 
the  circulation  of  200,000  copies,  providing  vernacular 
Bibles  for  500,000,000  souls,  within  the  space  of  a  half- 
century  ! 

These  are  only  the  results  of  those  prayers  traced  in 
one  direction.  All  that  modern  missions  have  wrought  on 
four  continents  and  the  isles  of  the  sea ;  all  the  doors  that 
have  opened  into  every  new  land  of  pagan,  papal,  heathen 
or  Moslem  peoples;  all  the  hundreds  of  organizations, 
formed  to  cover  the  earth  with  this  golden  network  of  love 
and  labor;  all  the  hundreds  of  translations  of  the  Bible 
into  the  tongues  and  dialects  of  mankind ;  all  the  planting 
of  churches,  mission  stations.  Christian  homes,  schools, 
colleges,  hospitals,  printing-presses  and  the  vast  machinery 
of  gospel  effort;  all  the  thousands  of  laborers  who  have 
offered  to  go  and  have  gone  to  the  far-off  fields;  all  the 
Christian  literature  created  to  supply  the  demand  of  awak- 
ening minds  hitherto  sleeping  the  sleep  of  intellectual  stag- 
nation ;  who  shall  say  what  is  not  to  be  attributed  to  those 
prayers  that  from  Lincoln  College,  Paulerspury  and 
Northampton  went  up  to  God  a  century  and  a  half  ago ! 

To  those  prayers  even  the  details  of  missionary  history 


PRAYER-BASIS  OF  MISSION  WORK        83 

are  closely  linked.  For  example,  Asia  was  a  continent, 
to  be  evangelized.  To  reach  its  teeming  populations  the 
strategy  of  the  gospel  struck  at  the  heart  of  the  continent 
and  sought  to  pierce  its  vital,  working  center,  India.  Eng- 
land was  already  there  in  the  East  India  Company,  but  that 
company  was  virtually  the  implacable  foe  to  missions,  for 
the  unselfish  and  uncompromising  morality  of  the  gospel 
interfered  with  a  lawless  greed  that  subordinated  every- 
thing to  trade;  and  so  India  was  practically  closed  to  the 
gospel.  The  presence  there  of  representatives  of  an  en- 
lightened Christian  government  had  erected  new  barriers 
more  insurmountable  than  any  that  existed  before  Eliza- 
beth signed  that  primitive  Trading  Company's  charter! 

But  prayer  for  the  "  whole  habitable  globe  "  included 
India.  And  God  had  heard  those  prayers  and  was  mov- 
ing. He  had  given  Britain  territorial  possessions  and  po- 
litical rights  in  India,  and  a  scepter  over  200,000,000 
people.  Time  was  close  at  hand  when  in  this  central 
stronghold  of  Brahminism,  this  central  field  of  Oriental 
missions,  Christianity,  through  that  sordid  East  India 
Company,  was  to  get  a  firm  foothold.  England  had  an  in- 
cipient empire  in  the  Indies ;  this  made  necessary  an  open 
line  of  communication  with  the  home  government  in  order 
to  maintain  an  open  highway  of  travel,  traffic  and  trans- 
portation between  London  and  Calcutta.  Hence,  in  the 
providence  of  God  came  that  political  necessity  which  ulti- 
mately determined  the  attitude  of  every  nation  along  that 
highway  that  was  opened  through  the  Mediterranean  and 
the  Red  Sea.  All  along  that  roadway,  through  great 
waters,  the  bordering  nations  must,  if  not  favorable  to 
Christian  missions,  at  least  be  neutral. 

Those  who  care  to  look  more  minutely  into  the  provi- 
dential process  by  which  a  highway  for  the  gospel  was 
prepared  will  note  how,  within  ten  years  after  that  trumpet 
call  of  Edwards,  the  battle  of  Plassey  occurred,  which  de- 


84  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

serves  to  rank  among  the  decisive  battles  of  the  world. 
Robert  Clive,  the  scourge  of  God,  in  that  conflict  settled 
it  that  Protestantism,  and  not  Buddha  nor  the  Pope,  was 
to  rule  in  India.  Then  just  one  hundred  years  later  the 
Sepoy  rebellion  swung  the  great  English  power  in  India 
to  the  side  of  Christian  missions  and  put  the  great  heart 
of  Asia  under  control  of  the  foremost  Protestant  and  mis- 
sionary nation  of  Europe,  if  not  of  the  world.  We  have 
given  this  one  instance  with  some  fullness  of  detail^  as  one 
example  of  prayer,  swaying  the  balance  of  national  his- 
tory and  a  world's  destiny.  But  even  yet  only  the  bare  out- 
lines have  been  indicated  of  that  grand  march  of  events 
which  is  even  now  in  progress,  and  whose  magnificent 
movement,  if  not  originated,  was  marvelously  accelerated, 
by  the  bugle  call  of  the  angel  of  the  Lord  in  response  to 
prevailing  prayer ! 

The  whole  basis  of  successful  missionary  work  is  to  be 
found  in  believing  and  importunate  prayer.  Whatever  en- 
thusiastic appeals  are  made  to  human  ears,  however  com- 
pact and  business-like  our  Missionary  Boards  and  organ- 
izations, however  thorough  and  systematic  our  methods 
of  gathering  offerings,  it  depends  primarily  and  ultimately 
on  prayer,  whether  the  appeals  really  move  men,  whether 
the  organizations  prove  effective,  whether  the  offerings 
are  cheerful  and  ample.  The  men,  means  and  measures 
for  a  world's  evangelization  have  always  been  hopelessly 
madequate  and  disproportionate  to  a  world's  extent  and 
needs ;  they  always  will  be,  while  selfishness  is  lord  of  even 
nominal  disciples.  But  what  we  need  is  supernatural 
power;  then  one  shall  chase  a  thousand  and  two  put  ten 
thousand  to  flight.  And  this  divine  working  comes  only 
in  answer  to  united  prayer.  No  time  is  lost  in  waiting  for 
the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  tongues  of  fire.  Fire  means  light 
and  heat  for  the  believer,  so  that  he  shall  no  longer  walk 
in  the  darkness  of  doubt  or  the  chill  of  indifference.    Fire 


PRAYER-BASIS  OF  MISSION  WORK        85 

means  a  consuming  force  that  burns  away,  melts,  subdues, 
all  obstacles  to  human  souls.  Better,  therefore,  than  any- 
new  standard  of  living  and  giving  is  a  new  experience  of 
praying.  As  surely  as  believers  take  their  stand  on  the 
promises  and  plead  with  God  as  Jacob  did,  they  shall  be- 
come like  him,  princes  of  God,  and  shall  prevail.  For  a 
praying  church  a  dying  world  is  waiting. 

Missionary  history  shows  the  value  of  the  prayer  for  la- 
borers. 

''Pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord  of  the  Harvest  that  He 
would  thrust  forth  laborers  into  His  Harvest." 

The  grand  inspiration  to  all  missions,  the  world  over, 
and  to  all  missionary  spirit  and  sacrifice  in  the  Church, 
is  Prayer?  not  appeal  to  men,  but  appeal  to  God. 

This  is  but  one  of  those  injunctions  and  promises  which 
fix  our  eyes  upon  Prayer  as  the  great  motor  in  the  king- 
dom of  God.  Again  we  affirm  it :  Prayer  has  turned  every 
great  crisis  in  the  kingdom.  It  can  bring  men,  it  can  fur- 
nish money,  it  can  supply  all  the  means  and  material  of 
war.  Yet  this,  the  grandest  of  all  the  springs  of  missionary 
activity,  is  that  on  which  the  least  practical  dependence  is 
placed  in  our  missionary  machinery. 

Let  us  look  at  the  bearing  of  believing  supplication  upon 
our  supply  of  laborers  for  the  harvest  field. 

The  fascination  about  all  true  Christian  work  is  that, 
first  of  all,  it  is  God's  work.  The  true  child  of  God  longs 
to  find  his  place  and  sphere  in  that  grander  sphere  of  divine 
activity  where  he  is  permitted  to  share  co-operation  with 
God.  Now  all  true  adaptation  to  our  work  depends  on  a 
higher  plan  than  ours.  God's  work  reaches  through  the 
ages  and  spans  even  the  eternities.  Every  workman  must 
have  his  fitness  for  his  particular  work,  and  that  fitness 
must  be  of  God,  for  the  workman  cannot  know  what  pe- 
culiar demands  that  work  will  make  upon  him  until  he 
gets  at  work,  and  then  it  is  too  late  to  prepare.    Frepara- 


86  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

tion  must  be  carried  on  earlier,  and,  because  no  man  can 
tell  with  certainty  what  he  is  to  be  called  to  do,  or  where 
he  is  to  be  placed,  the  only  hope  and  faith  that  can  solve 
the  perplexity  must  fasten  on  the  Providence  of  God.  He 
who  foresees  and  foreknows  what  the  work  is  to  be  must 
predestine  and  prepare  the  worker  to  do  it. 

Does  He  not?  Who  that  studies  history — which  is  the 
mere  record  of  God's  dealings  with  humanity — can  not  see 
that  a  divine  plan  is  at  work  ?  that  in  the  great  crisis  of  af- 
fairs He  brings  forth  some  man  or  woman  singularly  pre- 
pared, unconsciously  prepared,  often  unwillingly  prepared, 
for  the  work  and  the  sphere  ?  so  that,  as  in  the  building  of 
the  temple,  no  sound  of  axe,  hammer  or  tool  of  iron  was 
heard  while  it  was  in  building,  so  again  there  is  no  need 
of  any  adaptation  after  the  man  and  his  work  meet — they 
mutually  fit  as  stone  does  stone,  or  timber  does  timber, 
where  the  work  has  been  properly  done  in  the  quarry  and 
in  the  shops. 

Many  a  man  has  no  chance  or  need  to  adapt  himself  to 
his  "  environment."  One  of  the  great  objections  to  "  evolu- 
tion "  is  found  in  the  frequent  examples  of  preadaptation 
with  which  nature  abounds.  A  caterpillar  that  lives  on 
the  earth,  crawls  on  its  own  belly,  eats  leaves  and  refuse, — 
at  a  certain  stage  of  its  history  enters  the  chrysalis  state. 
It  is  to  emerge  from  its  cocoon  a  winged  butterfly,  hence- 
forth to  soar,  not  creep  or  crawl,  to  sip  the  honey  from 
the  dainty  nectaries  of  flowers.  Here  is  a  wholly  new 
experience,  of  which  the  life  of  the  worm  furnished  no 
earnest.  Now  if  you  run  a  sharp  blade  down  the  length 
of  the  cocoon,  and  cut  through  the  cuticle  of  the  animal 
while  yet  in  the  chrysalis  state,  you  will  find  all  the  peculiar 
organs  of  the  future  butterfly  or  moth  mysteriously  en- 
folded beneath  that  skin.  How  are  they  to  be  accounted 
for?  That  caterpillar  no  more  knew  its  future  state  and 
needs  than  the  unborn  infant  knew  its  coming  wants.    It 


PRAYER-BASIS  OF  MISSION  WORK        87 

could  not  be  said  to  adapt  its  organs  to  its  new  life  after 
its  emergence  from  the  cocoon^  for  those  organs  were  all 
there,  long  before  the  moment  of  that  new  birth.  And  so 
the  reverent  Christian  scientist  accounts  for  the  preadapta- 
tion by  a  higher  evolution  in  the  plan  of  a  Creator. 

Just  so  we  discern  in  history  preadaptations  that  defy 
any  explanation  without  faith  in  the  providence  of  God. 
Men  themselves  have  been  undergoing  a  peculiar  training 
for  ten,  twenty,  thirty,  forty  years,  which  has  found  its 
explanation  only  when  God  has  brought  them  and  their 
preordained  work  together!  Moses,  in  the  palace  and 
court  of  Pharaoh,  from  the  hour  when  he  was  taken  out 
of  the  basket  of  bulrushes,  was  unconsciously  preparing 
to  become  God's  great  agent  in  Israel's  deliverance  and 
organization:  the  fitness  of  that  man  as  leader  and  law 
giver,  poet  and  prophet,  organizer  and  administrator,  is  so 
exact  and  marvelous  that  it  compels  belief  in  God.  Luther 
at  Erfurt  and  Wurtemberg,  Knox  in  Scotland,  Calvin  in 
Switzerland,  John  Wesley  and  Charles  Wesley  in  Eng- 
land, Jonathan  Edwards  in  New  England^  William  Carey 
at  Hackleton,  Adoniram  Judson  in  Williamstown,  John 
Hunt  at  Hykeham  Moor,  John  E.  Clough  studying  civil 
engineering,  David  Livingstone  poring  over  Dick's  ''  Si- 
derial  Heavens,"  Henry  M.  Stanley  reporting  for  the  New 
York  Herald — these  are  examples  of  men  whom  God  was 
unconsciously  making  ready  for  a  special  work  of  which 
they  had  no  conception,  and  for  which  they  could  make 
no  intelligent  preparation. 

Who  was  it  that  not  only  raised  up  those  six  remarkable 
men  and  missionaries — Schwartz,  Carey,  Judson,  Mor- 
rison, Wilson  and  Duff — but  raised  them  up  in  the  same 
age  and  epoch  of  missions?  All  of  them  from  humble  life, 
but  of  varied  nationalities,  of  different  denominations, 
Lutheran,  Baptist,  Independent,  Presbyterian ;  who  was  it 
gave  to  all  of  them  essentially  the  tastes  and  the  training 


88  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

of  scholars,  tho  their  early  surroundings  in  several  cases 
specially  forbade;  who  was  it  that  singularly  fitted  them 
to  be  theologians,  translators,  philologists,  scientists  and 
teachers?  Who  was  it  that  so  singularly  adjusted  the  plan 
of  these  several  lives  that  each  spent  some  forty  years 
among  the  natives  of  India,  Burmah  or  China ;  passed  the 
advanced  limit  of  three-score  years  and  ten,  and  died  re- 
joicing not  only  in  their  labors  but  in  the  fruit  of  their 
labors  ?  * 

Sometimes,  indeed,  it  suddenly  appears  to  the  man  him- 
self that  the  adaptation  somehow  exists ;  but  it  is  only  the 
consciousness  of  a  pre-fitness.  John  Hunt  has  been  com- 
pared to  the  forest  bird,  which,  hatched  in  the 
nest  of  some  common  domestic  fowl,  moves  about 
restless  among  the  pullets  and  ducks  in  the  barn- 
yard, until  some  day,  finding  its  pinions  grown 
long  and  strong,  and  instinctively  conscious  that  the 
air,  not  the  earth  or  the  water,,  is  its  native  element, 
suddenly  soars  from  the  ground  and  makes  straight  and 
swift  flight  toward  the  freedom  of  the  woods  and  the 
higher  realms  of  the  atmosphere !  Of  how  many  of  God's 
workmen  might  similar  words  be  written  ?  And  what  new 
hope  does  it  impart  to  missions  as  the  enterprise  of  the 
Church  to  know  that  while  God  buries  the  workmen  He 
carries  on  the  work !  No  gap  ever  occurs  that  He  cannot 
fill.  How  often  a  desponding  spirit  cries,  when  such  a 
man  falls  as  John  Williams  of  Erromanga,  or  Mackay  of 
Uganda,  or  Livingstone  at  Lake  Bangweolo,  or  Keith  Fal- 
coner at  Aden,  "  How  shall  that  man's  place  be  filled?" 
But  God  has  another  man  ready,  and  sometimes  two  to 
take  the  place  of  one.    And  so  the  work  goes  on. 

The  subject  will  bear  indefinite  expansion ;  but  our  ob- 
ject is  only  to  sound  once  again  the  grand  key-note  of  all 
missions:   Believing  Prayer.     The  field   is   wide — world 


♦See  Dr.  George  Smith. 


PRAYER-BASIS  OF  MISSION  WORK        89 

wide.  The  Harvest  is  great,  but  the  laborers  are  few. 
How  are  they  to  be  supplied?  There  is  but  one  way  au- 
thorized in  Scripture :  "  Pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord  of  the 
Harvest  that  He  would  send  forth  laborers  into  His  Har- 
vest." Nothing  else  can  fill  these  vacant  fields  with  an  ade- 
quate supply  of  workmen.  Education  cannot  do  it.  A 
great  deal  of  our  education  is  leading  young  men  and 
women  away  from  mission  fields.  "  The  spectacles  of  the 
intellect/'  says  Dr.  David  Brown,  "  are  binocular."  There 
is  a  tendency  in  all  intellectual  culture,  as  in  the  gathering 
of  earthly  riches,  to  make  us  practically  Godless.  Men 
become  purse-proud  by  accumulating  wealth,  and  brain- 
proud  by  accumulating  learning.  If  God  does  not  hear 
prayer  and  give  learning  and  culture  a  divine  direction,  a 
heavenly  anointing,  our  colleges  will  only  raise  up  a  gen- 
eration of  sceptics.  Our  appeals  and  arguments  will  not 
give  the  Church  missionaries;  unless  the  demonstration 
of  the  Spirit  is  added  to  the  demonstration  of  logic,  no  con- 
viction will  result  that  leads  to  consecration — that  higher 
logic  of  life. 

And,  when  workmen  are  on  the  Held,  it  is  the  same 
prayer  that  must  secure  to  the  word  they  preach  "  free 
course,"  so  that  it  is  glorified.  When  the  Church  at  Anti- 
och,  praying  and  fasting,  sent  forth  Barnabas  and  Saul 
on  that  first  missionary  tour,  the  Church  kept  praying; 
and,  in  answer  to  prayer,  doors,  great  and  effectual,  opened 
before  them,  and  repentance  unto  life  was  granted  unto 
the  Gentiles,  and  mighty  signs  and  wonders  were  wrought 
by  the  hands  of  those  primitive  pioneer  missionaries. 

We  have  heard  many  things  said  in  depreciation  of  J. 
Hudson  Taylor  and  the  China  Inland  Mission.  We  have 
heard  his  whole  work  stigmatized  as  "  without  a  founda- 
tion," a  "  wild  scheme,"  "  impracticable,"  "  lacking  all 
elements  of  stability  and  permanence ;  "  we  have  heard  said 
of  it,  that  it  "  gets  men  and  women  into  Inland  China, 


90  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

and  then  leaves  them  there  to  starve,"  etc.  One  thing  is 
very  remarkable  about  it :  it  sets  us  all  an  example  of  faith 
in  God  and  power  in  prayer.  The  history  of  the  China 
Inland  Mission  is  a  wonderful  story;  it  sounds  like  new 
chapters  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Mr.  Taylor  was  at 
the  little  Conferences  of  Believers  at  Niagara-on-the-Lake 
in  July,  1888  and  1889.  At  the  first,  he  made  a  precious 
address,  fragrant  with  the  anointing  of  God — unpreten- 
tious, modest,  simple,  childlike.  It  took  us  all  captive  by 
a  divine  fascination.  He  simply  unfolded  the  word  of  God, 
made  no  appeal,  and  would,  in  fact,  have  no  "  collection." 
But  that  little  company  of  believers,  mostly  poor,  con- 
strained him  to  accept  a  freewill  offering  of  some  $2,500. 
To  their  surprise  he  was  rather  anxious  than  pleased. 
And  in  1889  he  told  the  source  of  his  perplexity.     He  said : 

"  When  that  money  was  put  into  my  hands,  I  felt  bur- 
dened ;  when  the  Lord  sends  me  workers  I  feel  no  anxiety, 
for  I  know  that  He  who  provides  laborers  for  His  harvest- 
field  will  provide  the  means  to  put  them  into  the  field.  But 
when  the  Lord  gives  me  money  and  not  the  workmen  to 
use  the  money,  I  know  not  what  to  do  with  it.  When 
from  the  Conference  of  1888  thirteen  volunteers  subse- 
quently offered  themselves  for  the  great  field  of  China,  I 
said,  '  Now  the  Lord  has  solved  my  perplexity.'  But,  you 
see,  we  sometimes  reckon  too  fast.  And  so  it  was  with 
me.  For  when  I  went  to  the  places  from  which  these  be- 
loved laborers  were  to  go  forth  to  the  harvest-field,  the 
churches  to  which  they  belonged  insisted  on  paying  all  the 
expenses  of  their  outfit  and  journey;  and  so  I  had  this 
money  still  on  hand,  and  my  perplexity  was  increased. 
Now,  dear  friends,  don't  give  me  any  more  money  unless 
you  give  me  the  men  and  women  to  use  it! " 

Here  was  the  head  of  a  great  missionary  movement 
whose  main  care  is  not  money  at  all,  and  who  is  more  anx- 
ious to  have  workmen  than  funds;  who,  in  fact,  begs  us 


PRAYER-BASIS  OF  MISSION  WORK        91 

not  to  give  him  any  more  money  until  we  first  provide  the 
zvorkers  to  use  it.  The  ordinary  conditions  seem  some- 
how reversed.  We  hear  on  all  sides  frantic  appeals  for 
money.  A  few  years  ago  scores  of  young  men  and  women 
were  offering  to  go,  but  there  was  no  money  to  send  them ; 
appeals  for  workmen  were  more  enthusiastically  responded 
to  than  the  Church  responded  to  the  needs  of  an  over-taxed 
treasury ! 

Have  we  not,  in  missionary  work,  fallen  into  the  snare 
of  worldly  care?  Do  not  missions  stand  in  our  thought 
too  much  as  an  enterprise  of  the  Church,  and  too  little  as 
the  work  of  God,  of  which  the  Church  is  the  commissioned 
agent  ?  Back  of  all  other  causes  of  the  present  perplexity 
in  mission  work ;  behind  all  the  apathy  of  individuals  and 
the  inactivity  of  churches,  all  lack  of  enthusiasm  and  of 
funds,  all  deficiency  of  men  and  means,  of  intelligence  and 
of  consecration,  of  readiness  to  send  and  of  alacrity  to  go, 
there  lies  one  lack  deeper,  more  radical,  more  fundamental 
— vis.:  THE  LACK  OF  BELIEVING  PRAYER.  Until  that  lack 
is  supplied  the  doors  now  opened  will  not  be  entered,  and 
the  doors  now  shut  will  not  be  opened ;  laborers  of  the  right 
sort  will  not  be  forthcoming,  nor  the  money  forthcoming 
to  put  them  at  work  and  sustain  them  in  it ;  until  that  lack 
is  supplied  the  churches  in  the  mission  field  will  not  be 
largely  blessed  with  conversions^  nor  the  churches  in  the 
home  field  largely  blessed  with  outpourings  and  anointings 
of  zeal  for  God  and  passion  for  souls. 

The  first  necessity  for  the  Church  and  the  world  is  also 
the  first  central  petition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer:  Thy  King- 
dom Come!  of  which  the  hallowing  of  God's  name  is  the 
preparation  and  the  doing  of  God's  will  is  the  consequence. 
And  that  Kingdom  comes  only  in  answer  to  expectant 
prayer.  We  need,  first  of  all,  a  revival  of  the  praying 
spirit  which  moved  Jonathan  Edwards  to  publish  his  ap- 
peal in  1747,  and  led  William  Carey  and  John  Sutcliffe  to 


gi  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

republish  it  in  1787.  Modern  missions  had  their  birth  in 
prayer;  all  their  progress  is  due  to  prayer.  A  few  souls 
that  have  close  access  to  the  Mercy  Seat  have  kept  up  the 
apostolic  succession  of  supplication;  and  because  of  this, 
alone,  doors  have  been  opened,  workmen  thrust  forth,  and 
money  provided.  But  suppose  the  whole  Church  would 
get  down  before  God !  What  if,  where  one  now  prays,  a 
hundred  were  bowed  on  their  faces  like  Elijah  on  Carmel ! 
What  if,  in  place  of  the  naturalism  that  is  eating  at  the 
vitals  of  spiritual  life,  there  might  be  a  revival  of  faith  in 
the  supernatural,  a  new  and  universal  awakening  to  the 
fact  that  God  is  a  present,  living,  faithful,  prayer-hearing 
God;  that  the  closet  is  his  ante-room,  nay,  his  audience- 
chamber,  where,  to  the  suppliant  soul,  he  extends  his 
sceptre  and  says,  "  Ask  what  thou  wilt  in  Jesus  name,  and 
it  shall  be  given  unto  thee !  " 

The  late  Mr.  Neesima,  of  Japan,  said  to  his  fellow- 
countrymen  when  planning  an  evangelistic  tour — ''Ad- 
vance on  your  knees! "  To  work  without  praying  is  prac- 
tical atheism;  to  pray  without  working  is  idle  presump- 
tion. But  to  pray  and  work  together,  to  baptize  all  work 
with  prayer  and  to  follow  all  prayer  with  work — that  is  an 
ideal  life.  Of  such  a  life  we  may  reverently  say,  laborare 
est  orare — work  is  worship  and  worship  is  work. 

In  the  vision  of  Isaiah  (vi.)  the  seraphim  have  six 
wings,  and  four  of  them  are  used  in  the  office  of  humble 
and  reverent  worship,  while  only  two  are  reserved  for  fly- 
ing. As  Dr.  Gordon  beautifully  says,  "  Let  us  learn  a  lesson 
on  the  proportion  to  be  observed  between  supplication  and 
service."  Better  twice  as  much  devout  preparation  as 
work,  than  a  hurried  and  superficial  communion  with  God, 
and  an  unprepared  and  hasty  dash  and  rush  into  activity. 
Let  us  linger  before  God  until  we  get  power,  and  then  life 
becomes  grand.  It  shines  with  the  glory  of  His  Face,  and 
it  moves  with  the  might  of  His  omnipotence. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


"  Faith  missions  "  is  a  very  imperfect  term  to  describe 
a  movement  which  needs  some  descriptive,  definitive  title, 
as  one  of  the  conspicuous  developments  of  the  century. 

Johannes  Evangelista  Gossner,  born  at  Hansen,  near 
Augsburg,  in  1773,  and  dying  in  Berlin  in  1858,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-five,  has  been  called  "  the  father  of  faith- 
missions."  With  his  name  we  must  associate  the  names 
of  August  Herman  Francke,  of  Halle,  George  Miiller,  of 
Bristol,  J.  Hudson  Taylor,  the  founder  of  the  China  In- 
land Mission,  and  many  others  who  have,  in  a  peculiar 
sense,  become  coworkers  with  God  under  the  inspiration 
of  faith  and  prayer  and  with  sole  dependence  upon  Him. 

To  some  the  term  **  Faith  Missions  "  seems  invidious, 
as  though  other  missions  were  not  carried  on  upon  the 
principle  of  faith.  Yet,  to  learn  God's  lessons  from  his- 
tory, we  must  neither  be  too  jealous  concerning  mere 
phrases,  nor  too  proud,  self-willed,  or  sensitive,  to  admit 
our  errors  or  deficiencies.  There  are  two  classes  of  activi- 
ties among  disciples.  In  one  class  what  are  called  good 
"  business  methods  and  principles "  are  adopted  as  the 
basis.  The  church,  local  or  general,  takes  up  an  enterprise, 
calls  to  its  aid  strong  and  wise  counselors,  and  forms  a 
Board ;  then  goes  about  its  proposed  work  after  the  method 
of  worldly  prudence — it  will  cost  so  much  to  carry  it  on, 
and  so  much  must  be  raised  by  contribution.  The  most 
vigorous  appeals  are  made  for  money  and  for  men — the 
main  dependence  being  upon  thorough  organization  and 

93 


94  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

wise  administration.  If  funds  fail,  there  must  be  new  ap- 
peal. No  forward  step  must  be  taken  without  a  sufficient 
guaranty,  better  still  if  in  advance  the  supply  of  material 
is  such  as  assures  success.  God's  blessing  will  be  sought 
by  true  disciples,  who  carry  into  the  Lord's  work  the  prin- 
ciples practically  found  to  assure  to  worldly  enterprises 
the  greatest  prosperity  and  progress.  Why,  then^  are  not 
all  such  church  activities  scriptural  and  apostolic  ?  And  is 
it  not  Pharisaic  and  pretentious  to  describe  other  enter- 
prises as  Faith  Work,  as  tho  nobody  else  had  any 
faith? 

To  such  questions  we  offer  a  humble  and  candid  answer. 
It  is  possible  in  work  for  God  to  give  undue  emphasis  to 
its  human  side,  or,  rather  too  little  emphasis  to  the  divine 
side.  We  may  do  really  Christian  work  in  the  energy  of 
the  flesh  rather  than  in  the  energy  of  the  Spirit;  we  may 
practically  trust  more  to  human  wisdom  than  to  divine  di- 
rection ;  we  may  put  prayer  behind  our  activity  rather  than 
before  it,  thus  reversing  the  true  order  which  puts  prayer 
always  first,  and  we  may  depend  more  on  appeals  to  men 
than  on  appeals  to  God.  And,  if  we  read  God's  lesson 
rightly,  here  is  precisely  the  providential  meaning  of  these 
faith  movements.  They  are  designed  by  God  to  make  more 
vivid  and  prominent  to  our  faith  the  Presence  and  Power 
of  a  Prayer-Hearing  God — to  make  more  real  the  actual 
providential  administration  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  the  af- 
fairs of  His  Kingdom,  and  the  actual  gracious  administra- 
tion of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  applying  the  truth  to  human 
souls  and  enlisting  believers  in  a  true  cooperation  with 
God  and  each  other. 

It  is  a  great  help  to  get  a  view  of  missions,  for  example, 
as  The  Enterprise  of  God,  for  which  He  is  supremely  re- 
sponsible; to  feel  that  He  alone  can  select  and  separate 
and  send  forth  His  chosen  laborers ;  that  He  alone  can  open 
wide  and  effectual  doors,  and  meet  and  drive  back  the 


THE  GROWTH  OF  "  FAITH-WORK  ''       95 

many  adversaries ;  that  He  alone  can  move  the  people  to 
give  themselves,  their  sons  and  daughters,  or  their  money ; 
that  He  alone  can  lift  believers  to  the  high  level  of  prevail- 
ing prayer,  and  stir  them  to  loving,  passionate  sympathy 
with  lost  souls ;  and  that  consequently  it  is  of  first  conse- 
quence to  keep  in  living,  loving  contact  with  God,  that  our 
prayers  be  not  hindered ;  to  use  only  scriptural  and  spiritual 
methods  in  appealing  to  men,  or  in  raising  funds ;  and  that 
there  are  times  and  matters  in  which  we  may  safely,  trust- 
ing in  His  leadership,  take  bold  steps  in  advance,  where,  at 
the  time,  no  human  guaranty  is  furnished  for  success;  as 
when,  at  Jesus'  command,  twelve  disciples  undertook  to 
feed  with  five  loaves  and  two  fishes  five  thousand  men, 
beside  women  and  children.  Faith  counts  on  God  as  the 
Invisible  Administrator,  who  can  do  things  impossible  with 
men,  can  open  doors  with  a  word  or  a  will,  thrust  forth 
laborers,  put  the  right  man  in  the  right  field,  supply  all  the 
money  needful  at  the  moment  of  need,  and,  in  a  word,  do 
exceeding  abundantly  above  all  we  ask  or  think.  Faith 
sees  that  God  is  honored  by  being  trusted,  that  believing 
is  not  presuming,  that  the  audacity  of  confidence  is  some- 
times really  the  humility  of  dependence  and  the  courage  of 
obedience. 

The  genuine  Faith  Work  of  our  day  is  one  of  the  great 
inspirations  in  service  to  God  and  man.  We  may  thank 
God  even  for  the  rebuke  it  has  often  administered  to  hesi- 
tating unbelief,  secular  methods  and  unscriptural  appeals, 
dependence  on  man  and  resorts  to  worldly  methods  for 
raising  money,  and  for  the  example  it  has  furnished  of 
confidence  in  God  in  great  straits.  God  has  shown  us,  by 
many  examples,  that  He  is  more  jealous  and  zealous  for 
His  work  than  are  any  of  His  workmen ;  that  He  holds  the 
keys  of  the  situation,  and  that  the  government  is  upon  His 
shoulder. 

These  lessons  can  best  be  understood  by  studying  the 


96  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

men  and  the  methods  themselves,  and  letting  philosophy 
teach  us  by  examples.  The  miracles  in  apostolic  days  were 
not  more  real  manifestations  of  the  power  of  a  present  God 
than  some  modern  triumphs  of  faith  which  are  a  sort  of 
addition  to  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Hebrews. 

George  Miiller  always  comes  to  mind  when  we  refer  to 
faith  work.  His  history  was  one  long  record  of  blessing 
received  in  answer  to  prayer.  He  started  more  than  sev- 
enty years  ago,  to  demonstrate  how  much  might  be  accom- 
plished by  believing  prayer,  that  the  weak  faith  of  disciples 
might  be  strengthened.  This  was  his  one  great  desire  and 
design.  And  what  is  the  result?  The  various  schools, 
from  the  beginning,  have  had  over  120,000  pupils,  with 
constant  conversions,  sometimes  over  100  in  one  school  in 
one  year.  But  only  believers  are  allowed  to  teach,  and 
only  believers  who  are  known  as  having  power  in  prayer. 
It  is  computed  that  at  least  10,000  of  these  pupils  have 
been  led  to  Christ.  During  this  same  period  there  have 
been  circulated  in  various  parts  of  the  world  nearly  2,000,- 
000  copies  of  the  Bible,  or  portions  thereof,  and  over 
108,000,000  of  books,  pamphlets,  and  tracts.  Missionary 
operations  have  been  carried  on  or  aided  in  twenty-five  dif- 
ferent lands  and  countries,  and  hundreds  of  missionaries 
aided  in  their  work,  through  whom  tens  of  thousands  of 
souls  have  been  brought  to  Christ,  and  from  the  one  church 
organized  by  Mr.  Miiller  in  Bristol,  sixty  brethren  and 
sisters,  forty  of  whom  are  yet  engaged  in  labor,  have  gone 
forth. 

All  this  is  beside  the  orphan  work,  in  which  during  the 
thirty  years  over  3,000  orphans  were  converted  while  in 
the  institution,  beside  hundreds  who  found  Christ  after 
they  had  left  its  walls.  And  the  total  amount  of  money 
disbursed  for  all  purposes  during  these  sixty-three  years 
was  about  seven  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars.  Here  is  an 
annual  present  expenditure  for  the  orphan  houses  alone  of 


THE  GROWTH  OF  "  FAITH-WORK  "       97 

£22,000,  or  about  $1 10,000.  And  all  this  money  has  come, 
with  all  other  supplies,  directly  in  answer  to  believing 
prayer.  Beyond  the  annual  report,  no  statement  of  the 
financial  condition  of  the  institutions  was  ever  made  to  the 
public,  and  even  the  Report  never  appeals  directly  for  aid. 
Never,  even  in  the  greatest  straits,  was  one  penny  asked 
of  any  man,  or  any  method  resorted  to,  whatever,  of  ob- 
taining money  or  other  supplies,  except  believing  prayer. 
Even  the  helpers,  who  meet  daily  for  united  supplication, 
are  cautioned  not  to  mention,  outside,  the  wants  of  the 
orphans,  lest  it  should  seem  like  looking  to  other  aid  than 
the  Divine.  And  yet  supplies  have  never  once  failed.  The 
first  donation  for  the  orphan  work  was  a  shilling;  in  1896 
23,500  pounds !  and  Mr.  Miiller  learned  to  ask  God  as  con- 
fidently for  twenty  thousand  pounds  as,  when  he  began, 
for  a  shilling. 

Those  who  would  find  the  principles  of  faith  work  ex- 
pounded by  Mr.  Miiller  himself,  must  read  "  The  Lord's 
Dealings  with  George  Miiller." 

There  he  gives  six  reasons  why  a  new  institution  was 
founded  by  himself  and  Mr.  Craik,  instead  of  working 
through  institutions  already  founded.  Let  this  faith- 
worker  briefly  define  his  own  position.     He  writes : 

1.  The  end  which  these  religious  societies  propose  to 
themselves,  and  which  is  constantly  put  before  their  mem- 
bers, is  that  the  whole  world  will  gradually  become  better, 
and  at  last  be  converted ;  whereas  Scripture  teaching  is  that 
in  the  present  dispensation,  things  will  not  become  spiritu- 
ally better,  but  rather  worse,  and  that  it  is  not  the  whole 
world  that  will  be  converted,  but  only  a  people  gathered 
out  from  among  the  Gentiles  for  the  Lord.  As  it  is  un- 
scriptural  to  expect  the  conversion  of  the  whole  world, 
we  could  not  propose  to  ourselves  such  an  end  in  the 
service  of  our  Lord. 

2.  That  which  is  worse,  is  the  connection  of  those  rcr 


98  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ligious  societies  with  the  world,  which  is  completely  con- 
trary to  the  Word  of  God.  In  temporal  things,  the  chil- 
dren of  God  need,  whilst  they  remain  on  earth,  to  make 
use  of  this  world ;  but  when  the  work  to  be  done  requires 
that  those  who  attend  to  it  should  be  possessed  of  spiritual 
life,  the  children  of  God  are  bound,  by  their  loyalty  to  their 
Lord,  entirely  to  refrain  from  association  with  the  unre- 
generate. 

3.  The  means  made  use  of  in  these  religious  societies  to 
obtain  money  for  the  work  of  the  Lord  are  also,  in  other 
respects,  unscriptural ;  for  it  is  a  most  common  case  to 
ask  the  unconverted  for  money,  which  even  Abraham 
would  not  have  done. 

4.  It  is  not  a  rare  thing  for  even  committee  membiers 
(the  individuals  who  manage  the  affairs  of  the  societies) 
to  be  manifestly  unconverted  persons,  if  not  open  enemies, 
of  the  truth ;  and  this  is  suffered  because  they  are  rich  or 
have  influence. 

5.  It  is  a  common  thing  to  endeavor  to  obtain  for  pa- 
trons or  presidents  of  these  societies,  and  for  chairmen  at 
public  meetings,  persons  of  rank  and  wealth  to  attract  the 
public.  Never  once  have  I  known  a  case  of  a  poor,  but 
very  devoted,  wise,  and  experienced  servant  of  Christ  be- 
ing invited  to  fill  the  chair  at  such  public  meetings. 

6.  Almost  all  of  these  societies  contract  debts,  so  that 
it  is  a  comparatively  rare  case  to  read  a  report  of  any  of 
them  without  finding  that  they  have  expended  more  than 
they  have  received,  which  is  contrary  both  to  the  spirit  and 
letter  of  the  New  Testament. 

7.  Another  law,  is  that  God  only  is  acknowledged  as 
the  patron  of  the  work,  and  all  appeals  for  help  are  to  be 
addressed  to  Him  in  believing  prayer — that  success  is 
to  be  gauged,  not  by  the  amount  of  money  given,  but  by 
the  Lord's  blessing;  and,  while  desirous  to  avoid  needless 


THE  GROWTH  OF  "  FAITH- WORK  "       99 

singularity,  the  one  aim  will  be  to  go  on  simply  according 
to  Scripture,  without  compromising  truth.  * 

Gossner,  the  humble  pastor  of  the  little  Bethlehem 
church  in  Berlin,  had  no  thought  of  being  a  leader  in  a 
new  movement,  or,  above  all,  a  "  missionary  founder."  He 
simply  walked,  a  step  at  a  time,  after  the  Divine  leader, 
venturing  to  put  faith  in  the  words  of  God,  and  not  dis- 
count his  promises  by  unbelief,  or  by  limiting  them  to  the 
apostolic  period,  or  some  remoter  time.  The  story  is  fas- 
cinating in  its  successive  steps,  showing  how  marvelously 
God  leads  a  willing  soul  who  is  courageous  enough  to 
follow.  Three  or  four  artizans  sought  him  for  advice, 
when  they  felt  the  burning  fire  shut  up  in  their  bones, 
and  were  weary  with  forbearing;  they  felt  that  they  must 
preach  the  Gospel  in  the  regions  beyond.  But  when  he 
would  not  give  them  aid  or  approval,  they  begged,  at  least, 
what  he  could  not  withhold — a  partnership  in  prayer  that 
God  would  guide  them.  He  consented,  but  it  was  perilous 
for  unbelief,  for  he  found  himself  praying  sympathetically 
and,  at  last,  fervently,  until  the  symphony  of  prayer  became 
a  sympathy  of  service.  Then  he  went  another  step,  and 
began  to  give  them  positive  help.  They  came  to  him  when 
iheir  day's  work  was  over,  and  Gossner  became  to  them 
an  educator,  training  them  in  such  knowledge  of  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  truth  according  to  godliness,  as  he  found 
lacking.  He  had  suddenly  and  unconsciously  established 
a  training-school. 

Then  followed  the  next  step.  To  encourage  men  to  go 
forth  to  the  world-field  without  first  running  the  round 
of  the  regular  curriculum  of  classical  and  theological 
training,  was  an  ecclesiastical  heresy  which  subjected 
Gossner  to  a  fire  of  criticism.  Yet  he  was  so  sure  that  he 
had  followed,  tho  at  first  reluctantly,  the  leading  of  God, 

*  The  Lord's  Dealings  with  George  Mflller.    I.  107-112. 


100  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

that  the  assaults  of  his  accusers  only  confirmed  him  in  his 
course.  He  shut  himself  in  with  God  for  prolonged  prayer, 
and  he  found  the  shield  of  faith  still  able  to  quench  the 
fiery  darts  hurled  at  him  as  an  innovator,  introducing  cus- 
toms not  lawful  for  his  brethren  to  receive  neither  to  ob- 
serve— being  Germans.  He  could  not  act  independently 
of  the  approval  of  his  brethren,  without  also  cutting  loose 
from  their  pecuniary  aid.  And  so  Gossner  thrust  his 
self-trained  workmen  forth  in  sole  and  simple  dependence 
on  God  for  all  needful  supplies.  This  was  the  distinctive 
characteristic  of  the  Gossner  Mission,  and  it  was  this  which 
God  ordained  should  be  an  example  to  others  who  should 
afterward  dare  to  trust  Him  after  the  same  sort.  Gossner 
remembered  our  Lord's  solitary  injunction  when  he 
showed  His  disciples  the  fields  that  were  white  for  the 
sickle :  **  Pray  ye^  therefore,  the  LORD  of  the  Harvest 
that  He  will  thrust  forth  laborers  into  His  harvest,"  and 
he  remembered  the  singular  illustration  of  the  working  of 
this  principle  in  the  Antiochan  Church,  when  the  Holy 
Ghost  called  by  name  and  sent  forth  Barnabas  and  Saul.  * 
Such  precept  and  practice  were  to  him  sufficient  warrant 
for  both  looking  directly  to  the  Lord  for  such  laborers,  and 
for  asking  for  such  money,  as  were  needed. 

Gossner  was  already  sixty-three  years  old  when  he  broke 
off  connection  with  the  Berlin  Missionary  Society,  and  be- 
gan to  work  on  independent  lines.  At  that  age,  few  men 
think  of  becoming  pioneers,  rather  beginning  to  withdraw 
from  active  labors.  Yet  Gossner  was  permitted  to  put  into 
the  field  two  hundred  men  and  women,  and  for  the  outfit 
and  support  of  this  mission  band  he  was  simply  in  part- 
nership with  God.  And  so  sacred  did  he  consider  this 
divine  partnership,  that  it  became  an  act  of  unbelief  to  ask 
of  men  any  longer,  since  he  was  permitted  and  authorized 
to  ask  of  God  in  faith,  nothing  wavering.     Faith  made 

*  Acts  xiii,  1-5. 


THE  GROWTH  OF  "  FAITH-WORK  "     loi 

him  bold,  and,  as  he  quaintly  phrased  it,  he  counted  it  his 
business  to  be  employed  in  "  ringing  God's  prayer-bell 
rather  than  the  beggar's  door-bell."  Did  God  honor  the 
partnership  of  faith?  Let  the  sufficient  witness  be  the 
words  spoken  over  Gossner's  open  grave :  "  he  prayed  mis- 
sion stations  into  being,  and  missionaries  into  faith;  he 
prayed  open  the  hearts  of  the  rich,  and  gold  from  the  most 
distant  lands." 

As  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon  says,  "  Gossner  believed  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  whom  he  regarded  as  the  administrator  of  missions. 
Therefore  he  relied  on  prayer  more  than  on  organization." 
Having  done  all  in  his  power,  he  would  sit  in  his  little  room 
and  commit  the  distant  work  to  this  Divine  Executor,  and 
"  Beg  Him  to  direct  it  all  and  order  it  after  His  own  will." 
Instead  of  an  elaborate  manual  of  instructions,  this  was  the 
simple  and  stirring  commission  which  he  put  into  the 
hands  of  his  missionaries:  "Believe,  hope,  love,  pray, 
hum,  waken  the  dead!  Hold  fast  by  prayer;  wrestle  like 
Jacob!  Up,  up,  my  brethren!  The  Lord  is  coming,  and 
to  every  one  he  will  say,  '  where  hast  thou  left  the  souls  of 
these  heathens?  With  the  devil?'  0,  swiftly  seek  these 
souls,  and  enter  not  without  them  into  the  presence  of  the 
Lord/'  "^ 

It  would  be  a  long  chapter  that  should  trace  the  apos- 
tolic succession  from  this  missionary  founder  and  trainer. 
Louis  Harms  is  one  example — in  Hermannsburgh,  darmg 
to  undertake  missions  on  a  scale  unparalleled  in  history. 
Think  of  this  pastor,  who  over  fifty  years  ago  inaugurated 
in  his  own  church — a  church  of  poor  farmers,  artizans, 
peasants,  and  mechanics — a  missionary  society,  which  came 
to  have  shortly  not  only  its  missions  and  missionaries,  but 
its  own  ship,  its  own  magazine,  its  own  training  college, 
its  own  complete  equipment.  At  the  end  of  thirty-one 
years,  Louis  Harms  had  put  into  the  field  and  kept  there^ 

*  »  The  Holy  Spirit  in  Missions,"  by  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon.  68,  69. 


102  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

over  350  missionaries,  and  in  ten  years  more,  could  praise 
God  for  13,000  converts  in  the  mission  churches,  while  the 
church  at  home  had  grown  to  unprecedented  proportions, 
and  was  the  largest  in  the  world.  Let  us  look  into  his 
simple  diary.    "  I  prayed  to  the  Lord  Jesus  that  He  would 

provide  the  needed  sum  of  ."     "  Last  year,  1857,  I 

needed  1,500  crowns,  and  the  Lord  gave  me  sixty  over. 
This  year  I  needed  double,  and  He  has  given  me  double, 
and  one  hundred  and  forty  over." 

Other,  and  more  recent  enterprises — founded  and  con- 
ducted on  the  same  essential  basis  as  Francke's,  Miil- 
ler's,  Gossner's,  Harms' — need  separate  treatment.  Their 
one  essential  principle  is  that  they  treat  the  work  as  God's, 
and  Him  as  the  responsible  founder  and  administrator; 
and  they  lay  great  stress  on  two  subordinate  laws  of  con- 
duct: First  that,  as  the  Scriptures  are  the  express  revela- 
tion of  His  will,  no  methods  or  measures  should  be  ad- 
mitted or  permitted  in  His  work  that  are  not  according  to 
His  word ;  and  secondly,  that,  as  the  throne  of  grace  is  the 
eternal  storehouse  of  supplies,  all  appeal  for  help  is  to  be 
primarily  to  God ;  and  that  all  dependence  on  man  for  aid, 
and  especially  on  direct  appeal  to  man,  is  practically  a  de- 
parture from  the  simple,  divinely  ordained  channel  of  sup- 
plies. Such  principles  as  these,  vindicated  by  such  prac- 
tical illustrations,  demand,  and  should  receive,  careful 
study  by  all  who  seek  to  work  with  God. 

The  last  few  years  have  furnished  two  quite  apposite 
examples  of  successful  work  for  God,  on  two  quite  differ- 
ent lines — The  work  founded  and  fostered  by  George 
Miiller  in  Bristol,  and  that  founded  and  developed  under 
Dwight  L.  Moody  in  America.  Both  grew  to  giant  dimen- 
sions ;  both  had  God's  Glory  in  view  and  both  were  educa- 
tional and  philanthropic.  George  Muller  died  March  10, 
1898,  and  left  behind  him  the  Scriptural  Knowledge  In- 
stitution with  its  five  branches ;  of  one  only  we  need  to  take 


THE  GROWTH  OF  "  FAITH-WORK  "     103 

notice — the  school  and  orphan  work,  as  most  nearly  re- 
sembling Mr.  Moody's,  altho  the  vast  colportage  work, 
in  distributing  Bibles  and  tracts  in  various  languages 
closely  resembles  Mr.  Moody's  latest  effort,  the  sending 
forth  of  the  printed  page  to  bless  the  prisoner  in  his  soli- 
tude. Dwight  Moody  died  on  December  22,  1899.  Here, 
then,  after  an  interval  of  less  than  two  years,  this  second 
departure  took  place,  and  each  man  left  behind  him  a  colos- 
sal enterprise  which  he  had  been  led  to  inaugurate  and 
carry  forward.  It  is  a  peculiar  parallel  also  that  to  carry 
on  the  work  in  each  case  demands  annually  an  income 
of  about  $125,000.  Mr.  Moody,  from  the  time,  in  18^9, 
when  he  began  the  school  work,  up  to  the  day  of  his  death, 
in  1899,  when  he  left  behind  these  great  collegiate  schools 
in  Mt.  Hermon  and  Northfield,  and  the  Training  School 
at  Chicago,  with  this  increasing  colportage  work — had 
conducted  all  on  the  most  approved  Christian  business 
principles.  He  kept  the  names  of  all  the  best  available  men 
and  women  of  the  United  States  and  Britain  who  had 
money  and  were  givers,  and  were  known  to  him,  and  un- 
hesitatingly appealed  to  them  for  aid.  Sometimes  he 
would  write  a  hundred  letters,  with  his  usual  tact  and  with 
a  certain  authority  born  of  unselfishness,  and  tell  them  he 
needed  aid  and  how  much  he  wanted  them  to  give.  Those 
to  whom  he  appealed  believed  in  him  and  his  work  and 
usually  responded  to  his  call.  In  this  way  mainly  he 
raised  all  the  money  represented  in  the  school  property, 
and  needed  in  the  annual  outlay  which  was  but  half  cov- 
ered by  charges  for  board  and  tuition.  When  Mr.  Moody 
died,  there  was  no  man  of  like  large  acquaintance  and  in- 
fluence and  tact  to  step  into  his  place,  and  a  crisis  inevitably 
arose.  Unless,  by  permanent  endowment  of  $3,000,000  or 
by  annual  collection  of  $120,000,  money  were  supplied,  the 
work  must  decrease  if  not  decline,  and  organized  effort 
became  necessary  to  press  this  matter  on  the  attention  of 


I04  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

the  public,  and  secure  permanence  to  the  noble  institutions 
which  he  had  taken  twenty  years  to  build  up. 

Now.  let  us  go  back  about  two  years.  Suddenly  George 
Miiller  died,  much  more  without  premonition  than  Mr. 
Moody.  A  similar  sum  of  money  was  needed  to  carry  on 
the  work  he  left  behind;  even  if  it  be  restricted  to  the 
orphan  work  only.  There  was  no  crisis,  and  there  has  been 
no  appeal  to  the  public  for  money,  beyond  the  indirect 
challenge  to  liberality  found  in  the  work  itself  and  the 
yearly  report  of  its  progress.  Everything  goes  on  just  as 
before.  There  is  the  daily  meeting  for  prayer,  and  God 
is  asked  in  faith,  to  feed,  clothe  and  provide  for  the 
1600  orphans  housed  on  Ashley  Down.  Not  one  word 
has  been  spoken  or  written,  revealing  any  crisis  incident 
to  the  death  of  the  founder  of  the  orphanages,  or  suggest- 
ing any  lack  of  supplies  incident  to,  or  consequent  on,  his 
departure.  For  over  threescore  years  George  Miiller 
made  but  one  direct  appeal  for  aid — to  God.  His  successor 
and  son-in-law,  Mr.  Wright,  does  the  same,  and  Mr.  Ber- 
gin  and  his  helpers  are  in  full  sympathy.  It  was  the  wri- 
ter's precious  privilege  to  pass  several  months  of  the  years 
1898  and  1900  in  Bristol  in  constant  fellowship  with  Mr. 
Wright  and  Mr.  Bergin,  coming  into  close  touch  with  the 
staff  of  helpers  at  the  orphanage,  and  mingling  with  them 
in  prayer  for  all  needs  of  those  hundreds  of  poor  orphan 
children.  It  was  also  his  privilege  to  watch  for  months 
the  daily  supply  meeting  the  daily  need,  without  one  pub- 
lic meeting,  one  word  in  the  public  press,  or  even  a  private 
and  confidential  statement  to  a  few  close  friends,  of  any 
emergency  to  be  met.  Yet  with  the  very  unique  person- 
ality of  Mr.  Miiller  withdrawn,  and  whatever  personal  in- 
fluence he  had  in  getting  money,  no  longer  available,  not  a 
child  was  sent  from  the  orphan  houses,  not  a  meal  lacked 
food,  and  not  a  want  went  unsupplied.  For  sixty  years  the 
God  of  Heaven  had  been  solely  appealed  to  and  He  is  not 


THE  GROWTH  OF  "  FAITH-WORK  "     105 

dead.  The  same  Divine  hand  still  supplies  in  answer  to  the 
prayer  of  faith  every  possible  need,  out  of  His  riches  in 
glory  by  Christ  Jesus.  Day  by  day,  without  any  machinery 
of  collectors,  any  asking  for  help  save  of  God,  money  and 
other  gifts  pour  in  unceasingly.  Mr.  Miiller's  departure 
left  no  gap  to  be  filled  save  in  the  love  and  yearning  hearts 
of  those  who  loved  him.  The  same  principles  of  faith 
and  prayer  which  he  laid  as  the  cornerstone  of  the  work, 
remain  to  sustain  it. 

Now  the  contrast  compels  us  candidly  to  ask,  which  is 
the  more  scriptural  and  spiritual  method  of  carrying  on 
work  for  God,  and  which  brings  the  work  into  least  peril 
when  the  workman  dies?  These  are  questions  which  are 
not  idle  or  useless  but  intensely  practical,  and  there  is  one 
consideration  which  reaches  beyond  even  this  question  of 
the  permanency  of  the  work.  The  response  of  God's  people 
to  the  calls  of  God  depends  largely  on  their  education  in 
giving.  If  for  example  a  pastor  habituates  his  people  to 
give  only  under  his  personal  and  stirring  and  urgent  ap- 
peals, then  when  he  is  gone  or  fails  to  present  the  case  with 
power  the  gifts  drop  off ;  or  it  may  be  that  the  person  who 
would  otherwise  give  is  not  present  when  the  appeal  is 
made  and  so  does  not  feel  its  urgency.  On  the  other 
hand,  suppose  a  congregation  thoroughly  trained  to  think 
of  themselves  as  God's  stewards — to  consider  every  cause 
of  God  in  its  inherent  worth  and  claim^  and  seek  of  God 
to  know  duty  and  privilege — then  gifts  come  in  with  the 
regularity  of  an  overflowing  stream.  The  Word  of 
God  distinctly  teaches  us  that  the  basis  of  Christian  giv- 
ing must  be  found  in  prayer  to  God  and  the  culture  of  in- 
dividual responsibility  as  in  trust  with  God's  property. 
This  principle  faith  missions  seek  to  emphasize. 

J.  Hudson  Taylor  on  one  occasion  made  a  strong  presen- 
tation of  China's  needs,  but  declined  to  take  any  collection 
on  the  occasion,  asking  the  hearers  to  go  and 


io6  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

prayerfully  what  their  duty  was.  The  chairman  happened 
to  be  also  Mr.  Taylor's  host  and  he  remonstrated  that  he 
had  lost  an  opportunity.  But  the  next  morning  handing 
Mr.  Taylor  a  check  for  a  large  amount  he  remarked  that 
he  was  now  persuaded  of  the  propriety  of  his  course,  ac- 
knowledging that,  had  he  given  at  the  time  he  would  have 
given  a  very  small  amount,  but  that  after  prayerful  weigh- 
ing of  the  matter  he  had  seen  his  whole  duty. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  CULTURE  OF  THE  GRACE  OF  GIVING 

Paul  has  apparently  rescued  from  oblivion  a  logion  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  more  valuable  than  any  of  those  over  which 
Egyptologists  have  lately  made  so  much  ado :  "  Remember 
the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  how  He  said,  '  It  is  more 
BLESSED  TO  GIVE  THAN  TO  RECEIVE.'  "  This  priceless  oracle 
seems  to  be  one  of  those  sayings,  handed  down  by  tradi- 
tion, but  not  embodied  in  the  Gospel  narratives.  Its 
unique  value  largely  consists  in  this,  that  it  lifts  giving 
to  its  highest  plane,  and  crowns  it  as  the  true  secret  of  the 
most  exalted  blessing  to  the  giver  himself. 

Nothing  needs  reconstruction  more  than  modern  giving ; 
in  fact,  the  reconstruction  must  be  a  revolution,  for  the 
whole  basis  is  wrong.  A  great  German,  in  a  clever  epi- 
gram, contrasts  Socialism  and  Christianity  thus:  the  for- 
mer says,  "  What  is  thine  is  mine  " ;  the  latter,  "  What  is 
mine  is  thine."  But  as  the  late  Dr.  R.  W.  Dale  said,  "  The 
epigram  itself  needs  correction.  Christianity  really  teaches 
us  to  say,  '  What  seems  thine  is  not  thine,  what  seems 
mine  is  not  mine.  Whatever  thou  or  I  have  belongs  to 
God ;  and  you  and  I  must  use  what  we  have  according  to 
His  will.' " 

This  is  the  essence  of  that  sublime  truth  everywhere 
taught  in  Scripture:  God's  inalienable  ownership;  man's 
undeniable  stewardship.  This  is  the  one  corner-stone  of 
the  whole  Biblical  system  of  giving ;  and  because  it  is  prac- 
tically denied  or  virtually  obsolete,  we  need  to  begin  at  the 

107 


io8  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

beginning,  if  we  are  to  have  a  new  and  a  true  system  in 
the  Christian  use  of  money. 

So  fundamental  is  this  grace,  that,  whenever  and 
wherever  there  is  spiritual  advance,  the  standard  of  giving 
becomes  more  worthy  of  God's  people.  When  Carey 
sounded  the  bugle  call  for  a  new  crusade  of  missions  a 
century  ago,  one  of  the  first  signs  of  a  response  was  found 
in  the  thirteen  pounds  two  shillings  and  sixpence,  laid  on 
God's  altar  in  Widow  Wallis'  parlor  at  Kettering  on  that 
memorable  October  day  in  1792.  And  "  Carey's  penny," 
the  systematic  weekly  offering,  was  the  recognition  of  the 
need  of  a  regular,  stated,  habitual  setting  apart  of  the 
Lord's  portion. 

From  that  day  to  this  the  matter  of  giving  has  been  one 
of  the  three  perplexing  problems  to  be  solved  in  our 
church  life :  praying,  going,  giving.  Many  have  been  the 
attempts  at  solution.  Most  prominent,  perhaps,  has  been 
the  restoration  of  the  tithe  system,  which  has  the  advan- 
tage of  being  originally  God^s  own  appointment.  This, 
with  all  its  merits,  is  much  misunderstood;  it  belongs  to 
law  rather  than  grace,  and  it  fails  to  answer  the  demands 
of  Christian  equity.  Commonly,  the  tithe,  or  tenth,  is  sup- 
posed to  have  satisfied  God's  claims  and  man's  needs, 
while,  in  fact,  the  Jewish  tithe  represented  not  the  max- 
imum but  the  minimum,  and,  in  some  years,  the  proportion 
given  to  the  Lord's  purposes  reached  two-iifths,  if  not 
three-Hfths,  of  the  faithful  believer's  income.  Again, 
under  a  dispensation  of  grace  we  become  sensible  of  a  new 
ownership  of  ourselves  by  God,  as  redeemed,  regenerated. 
Spirit-filled  saints,  including  all  we  have  and  are.  Under 
this  new  order,  the  Sabbath  is  not  less  God's  time,  but  all 
days  become  Sabbatic;  the  tithe  is  not  less  His,  but  all 
money  is  in  trust  for  His  uses ;  all  things  and  all  work  be- 
come part  of  a  consecrated  life  for  His  glory.  Moreover, 
while  the  tithe  may  be  a  fair  proportion  for  a  poor  saint,  it 


CULTURE  OF  GRACE  OF  GIVING       109 

is  manifestly  out  of  all  proportion  for  the  rich,  for  our  giv- 
ing is,  in  equity,  to  be  estimated  not  by  what  is  given,  but 
by  what  is  kept. 

Another  prominent  plan  has  been  the  apostolic  way  of 
laying  by  in  store,  weekly,  or  at  stated  times,  according  as 
God  has  prospered,  not  a  fixed  sum  or  proportion,  but  a 
variable  amount,  depending  on  ability  at  the  time.  This 
has  advantages,  most  obviously  the  tendency  conscien- 
tiously to  weigh  and  prayerfully  to  consider  what  duty  is, 
and  how  the  measure  of  obligation  varies  with  increasing- 
prosperity.  Its  obvious  defect  is  the  lack  of  uniform  sup- 
plies for  the  work  of  God,  and  the  risk  of  too  flexible  a 
conscience  in  the  estimate  of  real  ability. 

In  some  quarters  much  stress  has  been  laid  on  a  stated 
season  of  special  restraint  upon  appetite  and  other  indul- 
gences, as  in  the  "  self-denial  week,"  which  has  yielded 
large  returns  to  various  benevolent  enterprises.  But  there 
is  no  Scripture  warrant  for  a  method  so  spasmodic  and 
sentimental.  The  risk  is,  that,  after  the  special  "  lenten  " 
season  is  over,  indulgence  m.ay  run  riot,  as  tho  there 
were  some  new  right  acquired  to  pleasure-seeking,  by  the 
previous  self-imposed  restraints. 

The  various  individual  schemes  for  promoting  true  giv- 
ing need  only  a  mention,  since  they  have  so  limited  a  range 
of  experiment.  Some  few  devote  to  the  Lord's  purposes, 
pound  for  pound,  or  dollar  for  dollar,  an  equal  amount  to 
that  expended  for  self.  Equitable  indeed  it  seems,  to  make 
God  the  partner  who  shares  alike  with  ourselves  in  all  the 
outgo  of  property.  But  does  not  this  imply,  at  least,  that 
the  half  we  spend  on  ourselves  is  not  His,  and  that  the 
moiety  we  hand  over  to  Him  equalizes  all  claims  ?  A  few 
Christians  limit  their  accumulations  or  expenditures  to 
what  they  deem  a  reasonable  sum,  and  put  the  whole  re- 
mainder at  the  Lord's  disposal — a  high  example  of  giving, 
indeed,  in  contrast  with  the  low  level  of  most  saints. 


no  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

But  of  these  and  all  such  methodSj  more  or  less  current, 
the  question  still  arises^  and  claims  a  candid  answer,  What 
is  God's  standard  of  giving f  This  grave  matter  should 
be  looked  at  solely  in  the  searching  light  of  the  will  and 
word  of  God.  We  have  come  to  accept  methods — and,  still 
worse,  notions,  of  giving,  which  begin  in  an  issue  zvith  the 
universal  Owner.  We  count  what  we  have  our  own,  not 
His,  and  think  of  ourselves  as  owners  and  proprietors,  not 
stewards  and  trustees.  We  satisfy  ourselves  with  setting 
aside  the  Lord's  portion,  and  consider  ourselves  entitled 
to  determine  what  that  portion  is,  and  treat  the  rest  as  our 
own,  to  do  with  it  as  we  will.  Hence  come  avaricious 
hoarding  and  self-indulgent  spending,  which  are  supposed 
to  be  legitimate;  and  hence  comes  also  that  tardy  atone- 
ment of  "  munificent  bequests,"  of  which  Shaftsbury  was 
wont  to  speak  with  such  contempt,  as  tho  there  could 
be  any  real  munificence  in  giving  away  what  one  can  no 
longer  use  or  even  keep.  Rightly  viewed,  it  is  questionable 
whether  there  be  even  such  things  as  "  munificent  dona- 
tions," since  a  *'  debtor,"  a  "  trustee,"  a  "  steward  " — 
which  are  God's  own  terms  for  His  human  creatures — can 
not  make  a  donation,  but  can  only  discharge  a  debt,  fulfil 
a  trust,  execute  a  commission. 

This  truth  is  drastic,  but  it  is  God's  medicine  for  the 
deadly  disease  of  greed,  and  the  fatal  selfishness  of  which 
greed  is  only  a  symptom.  The  teaching  of  the  blessed 
Word  is  unmistakable,  and  may  be  briefly  stated  under  the 
following  seven  "  theses,"  to  borrow  Luther's  word : 

1.  God  owns  all  things  and  all  creatures,  and  never 
alienates  or  transfers  His  ownership. 

2.  God  claims  us,  with  all  we  are  and  have,  as  His  by 
creation,  preservation,  redemption,  and  endowment. 

3.  God  teaches  us  that  the  one  goal  of  our  lives,  in  every 
detail,  is  to  be  not  our  own  pleasure  or  profit,  but  His 
glory. 


CULTURE  OF  GRACE  OF  GIVING        iii 

4.  Every  man  is  a  debtor  to  all  other  men,  to  love  and 
further  their  well-being  even  as  he  loves  and  furthers  his 
own. 

5.  All  we  possess,  being  held  in  trust,  is  to  be  used  so  as 
to  serve  the  highest,  largest,  and  most  lasting  ends  for 
God's  glory  and  man's  good. 

6.  Hence  the  one  supreme  life  of  light  and  love,  duty 
and  privilege,  honor  and  blessing,  is  to  lose  oneself  in  the 
will  of  God. 

7.  Giving  belongs  to  this  highest  plane  of  privilege.  We 
multiply  ourselves  in  our  gifts,  as  one  spring  may  fill  many 
streams.  No  miser  can  be  happy,  for  the  very  end  of  re- 
ception is  impartation. 

These  laws  of  giving  belong  to  a  code,  practically  obso- 
lete with  man,  yet  eternally  in  force  with  God,  immutable 
as  Himself.  And  not  only  missions,  but  every  other  form 
of  work  for  man's  uplifting  and  salvation,  will  find  its 
chariot  wheels  drag  heavily,  until  the  divine  idea  of  giving 
holds  the  throne  and  shrine  in  our  conviction,  and  sways 
our  lives.  Every  cry  of  retrenchment  is  an  assault  on  God 
and  an  insult  to  His  claims.  Even  were  there  no  more 
than  the  faithful  bringing  in  of  the  tithes,  there  would 
always  be  meat  in  His  house  and  blessing  on  His  people. 
But  could  His  Church  once  be  roused  from  lethargy  and 
apathy,  feel  her  debt  to  a  dying  world,  and  see  her 
apostasy  in  the  matter  of  withholding  what  is  her's  only 
as  held  in  trust  for  the  payment  of  that  debt,  a  river  of 
beneficence  would  flow  into  the  various  channels  of  Chris- 
tian service,  which  would  overleap  all  present  banks,  and 
demand  new  and  more  adequate  modes  of  distribution — a 
river  to  swim  in. 

The  ministry  of  money  has  never  yet  been  appreciated 
by  disciples.  The  vast  power,  latent  in  hallowed  riches, 
is  one  of  the  great  dormant  forces  of  the  moral  uni- 
verse.   Wealth  belongs  to  the  material  world,  but,  once 


112  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

consecrated,  it  becomes  a  moral  and  spiritual  motor — a 
motive  power  in  the  realm  of  the  unseen.  Out  of  the 
mammon  of  unrighteousness  we  may  make  friends,  coin- 
ing money  into  saved  souls  and  good  works  done  for  God. 
Money  is  a  lever  for  all  good  enterprises,  and  represents 
values  of  all  sorts.  It  not  only  provides  home  comforts 
and  drives  the  wheels  of  industry,  but  it  relieves  poverty 
and  misery,  promotes  education  and  art,  is  a  great  civiliz- 
ing force,  and  the  handmaid  of  evangelism.  But  its  abuse 
is  as  mighty  for  evil  as  its  use  is  for  good;  indeed,  the 
best,  perverted,  always  becomes  the  worst. 

What  colossal  fortunes  are  held  by  single  owners ! 
When  a  well-known  New  Yorker  died,  he  left  behind,  it  is 
said,  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  If  that  amount  were 
piled  up  in  standard  silver  dollars,  one  on  top  of  another, 
it  would  represent  a  column  over  three  hundred  miles  high. 
Yet  the  whisky  money  of  this  nation  would  represent  a 
similar  column  over  three  thousand  miles  high!  The 
annual  income  of  the  Duke  of  Westminster  would  itself 
support  four  thousand  married  missionaries  with  their 
families  in  the  costliest  fields  of  the  Orient!  And  yet, 
what  do  such  giant  fortunes  amount  to,  in  the  retrospect 
of  a  selfish  life  ?  The  vast  treasure  of  A.  T.  Stewart  was 
all  gone,  within  a  decade  of  years  after  his  decease.  His 
body  was  stolen  and  his  splendid  mausoleum  is  empty. 
How.  few  to-day  rise  up  and  call  him  blessed!  The  in- 
ventor of  the  fire-extinguishing  apparatus,  called  by  his 
name,  died  in  a  California  almshouse  at  seventy  years  of 
age,  after  having  received  $10,000  a  month  for  royalty  on 
his  machines. 

Extravagance  saps  the  very  foundation  of  honesty  and 
virtue,  and  removes  all  the  base-blocks  of  individual  and 
family  life.  Decline  of  marriages,  which  was  one  of  the 
chief  causes  of  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  was  due  to 
the  CQsi  of  living  which  forbade  a  Roman  young  man  tq. 


CULTURE  OF  GRACE  OF  GIVING        113 

marry.  Thus  the  middle  classes  were  crushed  out — which 
to  every  nation  are  its  backbone.  The  same  causes  are 
now  conspiring  to  ruin  two  of  the  foremost  so-called 
Christian  nations  of  the  earth ! 

Modern  extravagance  seems  to  outstrip  even  ancient 
waste.  The  wedding  ceremony  itself  often  involves 
enormous  outlay.  While  China  was  appealing  to  the 
world  to  help  her  starving  millions  in  famine,  the 
Emperor's  wedding  festivities  wasted  millions  of  dollars. 
An  eccentric  millionaire  was  buried  not  long  ago  in 
a  casket  which  cost  $10,000,  the  funeral,  as  a  whole, 
costing  thrice  that  amount.  A  banker's  wife,  in  a  party 
at  the  Capital,  is  said  to  have  worn  a  dress  covered  with 
one-hundred  and  five-hundred  dollar  bills,  so  as  to  make  it 
appear  one  pattern,  the  waist  and  sleeves  being  thousand 
dollar  bonds  sewed  in;  her  fingers  were  ablaze  with  dia- 
monds, and  she  wore  a  tiara  worth  $80,000,  the  total 
value  of  her  costume  being  about  $300,000 !  In  recent  art 
sales  in  London,  $10,000  were  spent  for  a  dessert  service, 
and  $50,000  for  two  rose-tinted  vases.  Nearly  fifty  mil- 
lion smokers  are  now  in  the  United  States  and  Britain, 
and  the  cost  of  this  indulgence  is  one  hundred  times  what 
the  whole  Church  of  Christ  spends  on  missions. 

The  churches — alas !  lead  the  way  in  setting  up  a  wrong 
standard  of  expenditure.  One  well-known  church  spends 
$3,000  a  year  on  the  choir,  and  averages  $150  a  year  for 
foreign  missions!  Bishop  Coxe  found  a  man  in  his  dio- 
cese who  put  five  cents  a  Sunday  into  the  church  box,  and 
$800  a  season  into  the  opera  box ;  another  millionaire  could 
be  named  who  gives  a  dollar  a  Sunday,  but  stops  even 
this  payment  when  he  takes  his  annual  winter  excursion  to 
the  South,  where  he  spends  thousands  for  his  own  enjoy- 
ment! 

Where  is  zeal  for  God  ?  The  men  of  this  world  do  not 
hesitate   to  embark  on  an  enterprise  whose  profits  are  un- 


1 1 4  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

certain,  and  to  risk  vast  sums  on  an  experiment.  The  ship 
canal  projected  from  Bordeaux  on  the  Atlantic,  to  Nar- 
bonne  on  the  Mediterranean,  would  cost  $i30,cxx),ooo. 
When  a  few  years  ago  a  new  fleet  of  ninety-two  vessels 
was  planned  for  the  navy  of  the  United  States,  it  was  ex- 
pected to  call  for  $20,000,000  a  year,  for  fourteen  years! 
What  a  work  it  was  to  build  the  pyramids,  employing  one 
thousand  men  at  a  time,  and  occupying  twenty  years !  The 
Russian  war  cost  England  alone  $500,000,000.  Consider 
what  might  have  been  done  in  the  field  of  missions  with 
that  last  sum,  which  represents  all  that  has  been  given  m 
the  last  seventy-five  years  for  world-wide  evangelisation, 
by  the  whole  Church ! 

It  is  a  shame  that  we  should  find  the  most  munificent 
givers  outside  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Baron  Hirsch,  of 
Paris,  recently  dead,  gave  to  the  poor  Russian  Jews,  and 
their  fellow  Hebrews  in  Poland,  Hungary,  and  Austria, 
$10,000,000;  and  shortly  after  as  much  more  to  other 
charities.  His  benefactions  are  yet  without  a  parallel  in 
histor)'.  And  this  famous  financier  and  railroad  king, 
besides  giving  ten  millions  to  Christian  schools  and  hos- 
pitals in  Europe,  gave  $40,000,000  to  build  commercial 
schools  in  the  waste  lands  of  the  continent  for  the  Jews. 

One  awful  fact  is  that  there  has  been  a  decline  and 
decay  of  liberality  in  the  churches :  While  the  membership 
increased  in  thirty  years  three  and  a  half  times,  there  was 
a  decided  falling  off  in  the  rate  of  giving,  so  that  while 
the  total  of  gifts  increased,  the  amount  given,  reckoned 
by  the  average,  went  down  to  about  one-half. 

God  wants  self-denying  giving.  The  wealth  of  church 
members  in  Protestant  communions  is,  by  the  census,  at 
least  $10,000,000,000.  Their  contributions  average  one- 
sixteenth  of  a  cent  for  every  dollar,  or  one  dollar  in  about 
$1,600.  Who  can  look  at  the  Japanese  temple,  with  its 
coil  of  rope, — larger  than  a  ship's  hawser,  and  weighing  a 


CULTURE  OF  GRACE  OF  GIVING        115 

ton  and  a  half,  made  from  the  hair  of  Buddha's  worship- 
ers, and  used  to  lift  timbers  and  stones  to  their  places  in 
the  temple  building, — without  feeling  the  rebuke  implied 
to  our  self-sparing  gifts? 

What  a  sacrifice  of  vanity  was  that  when  the  women  of 
Israel  gave  their  metal  mirrors  to  be  melted  down  and  re- 
cast for  the  laver  of  the  holy  court.  As  surely  as  the 
barnacles  eat  their  way  into  the  oak  timbers  of  a  ship  and 
sink  her,  selfishness  eats  into  and  destroys  Christian  char- 
acter. Mr.  Spurgeon  had  a  contempt  for  all  parsimony, 
and  occasionally  thundered  anathemas  against  it,  or  again 
pelted  it  with  ridicule.  One  morning  he  said  of  some  un- 
willing givers  that  they  squeezed  each  shilling  until  the 
queen's  head  was  well  nigh  obliterated.  The  Abbe  Roux 
keenly  remarked,  that  "  It  is  not  as  far  from  the  heart  to 
the  mouth  as  from  the  mouth  to  the  hand,"  meaning  that 
many  who  talk  generously  give  stingily. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  sea  are  found  examples  of  dis- 
proportionate giving  very  rare  in  America — giving  which 
would  be  thought  by  most  people  quite  out  of  proportion 
to  their  selfish  indulgence.  For  example:  First  case — ^A 
governess,  who  out  of  the  iioo  earned,  keeps  £50  and 
gives  the  other  £^0  away ;  like  Zaccheus,  she  says :  "  Be- 
hold, Lord,  the  half  of  my  goods  I  give  to  the  poor." 
Second  case — "  One  whose  income  is  i2,ooo,  lives  on 
i200  and  gives  i  1,800  away,"  thus  parting  with  not  only 
one-tenth,  but  with  nine-tenths  of  what  is  received.  Third 
case — "  Another,  who  earns  £1,500  a  year,  lives  on  £100 
and  gives  £1,400  away,"  and  thus  £14  out  of  every  £15 
are  devoted  to  the  claims  of  religion  and  charity.  Fourth 
case — "  Another,  whose  income  is  £8,000,  lives  on  £250 
and  gives  the  balance  away."  What  a  balance  to  part 
with:  £31  given  back  to  God  out  of  every  £32  received 
from  Him !  Mr.  Gladstone's  brief  eulogy  of  Mr.  Peabody 
was :  "  One  who  taught  us  the  most  needful  of  all  lessons: 


1 1 6  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

how  a  man  may  be  a  master  of  his  fortune  and  not  its 
slave."  There  is  one  lesson  even  more  needful — namely, 
that  we  should  learn  that  no  man  can  assume  to  be  the 
"  master  of  a  fortune  "  without  virtually  disputing  the 
fact  of  stewardship. 

God  wants  consecrated  capital  for  consecrated  work. 
When  Theresa  felt  the  need  of  a  hospital,  she  had  but 
three  farthings,  but  she  began  to  build,  for  while  "  Theresa 
and  three  farthings  were  nothing,  God  and  three  farthings 
were  incalculable."  He  wants  conscientious  and  systematic 
giving.  Stonewall  Jackson,  on  the  day  after  the  second 
battle  of  Bull's  Run,  in  the  midst  of  all  the  feverish  ex- 
citement of  the  war,  inclosed  his  contribution  for  missions 
due  on  the  Sabbath.  Tho  he  could  not  be  present,  he 
could  not  neglect  the  offering. 

He  who  appropriates  a  certain  proportion  to  benevo- 
lent work,  should  increase  the  proportion  as  wealth  accu- 
mulates. More  than  half  a  century  ago,  Nathaniel  Cobb 
sat  down  in  his  counting-house  in  Boston,  and  wrote  the 
following  solemn  covenant: 

"  By  the  grace  of  God,  I  will  never  be  worth  more  than  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  By  the  grace  of  God,  I  will  give  one-fourth 
of  the  net  profits  of  my  business  to  charitable  and  religious  uses. 
If  I  am  ever  worth  twenty  thousand  dollars,  I  will  give  one- 
half  of  my  net  profits;  if  I  am  worth  thirty  thousand  dollars,  I 
will  give  three-fourths;  and  the  whole  after  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars. So  help  me  God,  or  give  to  a  more  faithful  steward,  and 
set  me  aside." 

This  covenant  he  subscribed  and  adhered  to  with  con- 
scientious fidelity  as  long  as  he  lived.  On  his  death-bed 
he  said  to  a  friend,  "  By  the  grace  of  God,  nothing  else, 
1  have  been  enabled,  under  the  influence  of  these  resolu- 
tions, to  give  away  more  than  forty  thousand  dollars. 
How  good  the  Lord  has  been  to  me ! " 


CULTURE  OF  GRACE  OF  GIVING        117 

The  ministry  of  money  should  begin  when  we  have  but 
little.    As  the  Persian  proverb  says : 

**  Do  the  Httle  things  now ; 
So  the  big  things  shall  by  and  by 
Come  asking  to  be  done." 

Scriptural  giving  is  worship,  and  so  every  worshiper 
of  God  must  be  one  of  God's  givers,  whether  rich  or  poor. 
Dr.  Howard  Crosby  used  to  say,  "  The  poor  man  should 
no  more  omit  giving,  on  account  of  his  poverty,  than  the 
illiterate  his  praying  because  of  his  bad  grammar."  The 
mites  God  values  as  much  as  the  millions,  if  they  mean 
prayerful,  and  devout,  and  worshipful  giving,  but  God  has 
as  much  contempt  for  the  mites  of  a  miser  as  he  has  re- 
spect for  the  mites  of  the  poor  widow\ 

It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.  When  dis- 
ciples learn  the  true  ministry  of  money,  the  privilege  of 
giving  will  swallow  up  the  obligation. 

When  we  understand  our  stewardship,  we  shall  see 
that  every  dollar  belongs  to  God.  Dr.  William  Kincaid 
says :  "  A  friend  of  mine  was  receiving  some  money  at  the 
hands  of  a  bank  officer  the  other  day,  when  he  noticed, 
depending  from  one  of  the  bills,  a  little  scarlet  thread. 
He  tried  to  pull  it  out,  but  found  that  it  was  woven  into 
the  very  texture  of  the  note,  and  could  not  be  withdrawn. 
*  Ah ! '  said  the  banker,  '  you  will  find  that  all  the  govern- 
ment bills  are  made  so  now.  It  is  an  expedient  to  pre- 
vent counterfeiting.'  Just  so  Christ  has  woven  the  scarlet 
thread  of  his  blood  into  every  dollar  that  the  Christian 
owns.  It  can  not  be  withdrawn;  it  marks  it  as  His. 
When  you  take  out  a  government  note  to  expend  it  for 
some  needless  luxury,  notice  the  scarlet  thread  therein, 
and  reflect  that  it  belongs  to  Christ.  How  can  we  triflia 
with  the  price  of  blood  ?  " 

Beautiful  is  the  myth  of  Elizabeth  of  Hungary,  the 


ii8  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

pioneer  saint  and  martyr.  When  carrying,  in  her  robe, 
suppHes  of  food  for  the  poor,  her  husband  pressed  her  to 
know  what  was  the  burden  she  was  bearing,  and,  open- 
ing her  robe,  he  saw  only  heaven's  red  and  white  roses, 
and  was  dazzled  by  the  supernal  glory  of  her  face.  In 
God's  eyes  how  many  of  our  simplest  gifts  for  His  poor 
are  really  celestial  blooms,  full  of  a  holy  fragrance  as  the 
sweet  smell  of  incense ! 

Were  we  brought  into  such  vital  and  habitual  sympathy 
with  God  as  to  see  this  lost  world  through  His  eyes,  that 
would  solve  every  problem.  We  should  then  learn  to 
pray,  for  we  should  share  in  the  travail  of  the  Son  of  God ; 
we  should  yearn  to  go,  for  the  want  and  woe  of  mankind 
would  draw  us  as  it  drew  Him ;  and  we  should  find  it  easy 
to  give,  and  correspondingly  hard  to  keep.  Each  soul  in 
harmony  with  God  will  say^  as  Christ  said :  "  Lo,  I  come 
TO  DO  Thy  will^  O  God  1 " 

To  ask  unbelievers  for  gifts  to  carry  on  God's  work,  or 
even  to  urge  believers  to  give,  is  not  God's  way,  and 
neither  will  be  done  by  a  church  that  is  devout  and  truly 
consecrated.  Nor  will  a  few  large  givers  be  permitted  to 
do  all  the  giving,  as  tho  it  were  by  the  amount  given 
that  the  total  is  to  be  estimated. 

These  are  truths  that  are  sadly  obscured  in  our  day,  and 
need  a  new  emphasis.  Malachi  records  how  God's  own 
people  robbed  Him,  and  adds  a  representative  promise: 

"  Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the  storehouse, 
That  there  may  be  meat  in  mine  house; 

And  prove  me  now  herewith, 
Saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts, 

If  I  will  not  open  you  the  windows  of  Heaven 
And  POUR  YOU  OUT  a  blessing 

Till   failure  of  enough  !  " — Mai.  iii :  lo. 

Certain  words  here  are  put  in  capitals  to  show  the  sym- 
metric  parallelism.     The  one  command  and  condition  is, 


CULTURE  OF  GRACE  OF  GIVING        119 

a  full  rendering  to  the  Lord  of  His  own;  the  grand  result 
is  a  full  supply  for  all  the  needs  of  His  work;  and  the 
grand  reward  is,  a  full  blessing  from  above,  until  there  is 
none  left  to  pour  out! 

When  God  gives  His  own  solution  to  a  problem,  we 
need  look  no  further.  He  here  calls  our  attention  to  the 
ministry  of  money  in  His  kingdom.  Observe,  not  the 
ministry  of  wealth.  The  poverty  of  the  poorest  as  well 
as  the  affluence  of  the  richest  has  a  ministry  to  fulfill,  and 
the  only  encomiums  bestowed  by  the  Lord  on  givers  have 
been  on  those  the  abundance  of  whose  poverty  abounded 
unto  the  riches  of  their  liberality. 

The  scriptural  principles  upon  the  subject  of  giving  are 
now-a-days  receiving  new  study. 

The  law  of  the  consecration  of  the  first-bom  and  of  the 
first-fruits  sets  a  sort  of  keynote  to  the  Scripture  teaching 
on  giving.  In  Exodus  xiii. :  14,  15,  and  parallel  passages, 
the  law  of  these  first  offerings  is  inseparably  linked  with 
the  Exodus  and  the  Passover.  When,  for  the  sake  of  the 
blood,  the  Lord  passed  over  the  houses  of  Israel  and 
spared  their  first-born,  He  decreed  that  henceforth  all  that 
opened  the  matrix  should  be  holy  to  Himself.  Even  the 
earth  itself  was  embraced  within  the  application  of  this 
law :  regarded  as  each  year  anew,  becoming  a  mother  and 
opening  her  womb  to  give  birth  to  harvests.  Nay,  more 
than  this,  each  fresh  yield  of  orchard  and  meadow,  of 
vineyard  and  oliveyard,  was  regarded  as  the  offspring  of 
a  maiden  earth  coming  for  the  first  time  to  maternity,  and 
from  her  matrix  giving  forth  unto  the  Lord  her  first-born. 
There  was  poetry  as  well  as  piety  in  the  Jewish  system 
of  offerings  to  the  Lord ! 

The  Bible  teaches  throughout  that  God  asks,  and  in  the 
highest  sense  accepts,  for  the  purposes  of  His  Kingdom, 
only  consecrated  money.  It  may  be  a  small  minority,  who 
boldly  hold  and  advocate  this  view,  but  it  is  the  only  scrip- 


I20  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

tural  and  spiritual  view;  and  the  church  will  never  have 
the  highest  blessing  in  her  work  for  God  till  she  dares  to 
stand  on  this  elevated  platform  with  Him. 

As  far  back  as  Leviticus  ii. :  13  we  read  these  significant 
words : 

**  And  every  oblation  of  thy  meat  oflfering 
Shalt  thou  season  with  salt; 
Neither  shalt  thou  suffer  the  salt 
Of  the  Covenant  of  thy  God  , 

To  be  lacking  from  thy  meat  offering. 
With  all  thine  offerings  shalt  thou  offer  salt." 

Here  is  another  unmistakable  parallelism.  A  divine  prin- 
ciple is  laid  down  not  only  for  meat  or  food  offerings 
where  salt  is  naturally  added  for  the  sake  of  savor,  but  to 
be  applied  to  all  offerings.  Salt  represents  covenant  re- 
lation with  God,  and  hence  is  used  symbolically  to  express 
the  truth  that  offerings  to  God  have  the  savor  of  accept- 
ableness  only  when  salted  with  a  covenant  relationship. 

This  is  remarkable  as  the  only  certain  reference  to  salt 
in  the  ceremonial  law,  *  and  yet  so  emphatic  is  the  com- 
mand that  from  this  point  increasing  importance  is  as- 
cribed to  it.  t 

This  was  the  one  symbol  never  absent  from  the  altar 
of  burnt  offering.  What  was  its  significance?  Some 
carelessly  interpret  it  as  the  unfailing  sign  of  the  imper- 
ishable love  of  Jehovah  for  His  people.  But  is  this  the 
natural  interpretation  of  the  command  concerning  salt? 
In  its  unalterable  nature  it  is  the  contrary  of  leaven,  which 
is  held  up  as  an  evil  and  corrupting  principle  to  be  avoided 
as  rendering  offerings  unacceptable.  Salt  is  not  only 
capable  of  imparting  savor;  it  saves  as  well  as  savors  and 
seasons;  it  has  a  cleansing  power  and  is  antiseptic,  ow- 


*  Exodus  XXX.:  35,  margin. 

t  Compare  Numb,  xviii  :  ig,  2  Chron.   xiii  :  5,  Ezek.  xliii  :  24..  Mark  ix 
49t5o. 


CULTURE  OF  GRACE  OF  GIVING        121 

ing  to  the  presence  of  chlorine.  It  is  the  opposite  of  leaven. 
As  leaven  made  offerings  corrupt  and  offensive  and  gave 
them  the  savor  of  death,  salt  made  them  pure,  acceptable, 
and  imparted  the  savor  of  life.  Hence,  in  order  to  an  of- 
fering being  acceptable  to  God,  the  offerer  must  salt  it 
with  a  covenant  spirit  and  relation.  God  has  no  need  of 
unconsecrated  and  unsanctified  offerings,  and  will  not 
accept  them.  He  demands  first  self-surrender_,  then  as  a 
logical  consequence — nay,  part  of  that  self -surrender  and 
involved  in  it — the  surrender  of  what  we  have,  or,  as  we 
say,  "  possess." 

Of  this  law  or  principle  the  Fiftieth  Psalm  is  the  fullest 
exhibition  in  the  word  of  God.  That  Psalm  is  simply 
Leviticus  ii:  13  expanded  into  a  sublime  poem  of  twenty- 
three  verses.  Its  keynote  is  in  the  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth 
verses,  which  close  the  introductory  stanza.  Then  fol- 
lows God's  first  address  to  His  people,  verses  7-16,  and  a 
second  address  to  the  wicked,  verses  17-23,  both  being  on 
the  subject  of  sacrifices  or  offerings,  and  setting  forth 
fundamental  principles. 

First  comes  the  keynote  of  the  Psalm : 

"  He  shall  call  the  heavens  from  above 
And  to  the  earth 
That  He  may  judge  His  people. 
'  Gather  my  saints  together  unto  me ; 
Those  that  have  made  a  covenattt  with  me  by  sacrifice/ 
And  the  heavens  shall  declare  His  righteousness, 
For  God  Himself  is  Judge." 

Here  two  things  are  plain:  God  for  some  reason  takes 
the  judgment  seat,  as  if  for  an  important  decision,  and 
calls  before  Him  His  own  saints,  who  have  made  a  cove- 
nant with  Him  by  sacrifice, — literally  "those  that  set  more 
by  the  covenant  than  by  any  mere  offering''  (Cf.  Exod. 
xxiv:  7,  8),  or  who  "  ratify  my  covenant  with  sacrifice." 
In  other  words,  Jehovah  solemnly  summons  to  His  pres- 


122  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ence  those  who  have  been  offering  sacrifices  and  have  not 
properly  understood  the  relation  of  sacrifice  and  covenant. 
And  now  what  has  the  Judge  to  say  ?    First  to  His  people : 

I  will  not  reprove  thee  on  account  of  thy  sacrifices, 
For  thy  burnt  offerings  are  continually  before  me. 

He  was  not  now,  as  afterward,  through  Malachi,  re- 
proving His  people  for  the  lack  of  offerings,  but  for  the 
wrong  spirit  that  lay  behind  their  formal  obedience.  To 
Asaph  himself,  a  chief  among  the  Levites,  whose  whole 
life  was  devoted  to  temple  service,  it  was  given  to  set  forth 
in  this  psalm,  in  Jehovah's  name  the  truth  that  all  out- 
ward offerings,  however  costly  and  ample,  without  the 
prior  offering  of  the  heart  and  life  are  rejected.  All  god- 
less or  unsanctified  giving  proceeds  on  the  principle  that 
God  has  need  of  money,  which  is  here  especially  dis- 
claimed. 

"  For  every  beast  of  the  forest  is  mine, 
And  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills. 
If  I  were  hungry  I  would  not  tell  thee; 
For  the  world  is  mine  and  the  fatness  thereof. 
Will  I  eat  the  flesh  of  bulls 
Or  drink  the  blood  of  goats  ?  " 

God  is  neither  hungry  nor  in  want.  If  He  were,  He 
would  not  need  to  appeal  to  man,  for  His  resources  are 
infinite.  Offerings,  therefore,  made  to  supply  a  need  in 
Grod  or  His  work,  are  a  mistake !     Hence  the  conclusion : 

"  Offer  unto  God  thanksgiving," 

literally,  "  Sacrifice  thanksgiving ; "  Instead  of  peace-of- 
ferings for  a  thanksgiving  or  vow,  in  a  legal  spirit,  the 
acceptable  offerer  must  bring  that  which  the  sacrifice  rep- 
resents, viz.:  praise  from  a  loving,  loyal,  grateful  heart. 
In  other  words,  the  salt  of  the  covenant  must  not  be  lack- 


CULTURE  OF  GRACE  OF  GIVING        123 

ing.  Outer  offerings  are  worthless  that  do  not  express 
first  of  all  genuine  devotion  and  obedience  to  the  will  of 
God. 

Here,  then,  is  the  great  lesson.  Our  offerings  are  not 
primarily  intended  to  relieve  or  supply  any  want  of  God 
or  His  w.ork,  but  to  express  obedience  and  gratitude  on 
the  part  of  the  offerer.  Hence  they  imply  the  salt  of 
the  covenant,  the  previous  offering  of  self. 

The  same  lesson  is  taught  in  the  second  part  of  this 
judicial  address.  God  now  turns  to  the  wicked,  and  in 
the  plainest  words  spurns  his  offering: 

"  What  hast  thou  to  do  to  declare  my  statutes. 
Or  that  thou  shouldest  take  my  covenant  in  thy  mouth : 
Seeing  thou  hatest  instruction 
And  castest  my  words  behind  thee." 

Willful  transgressors  bring  offerings,  while  living  in 
sin  and  disobedience.  The  salt  of  the  covenant  being  lack- 
ing, their  formal  sacrifices  God  indignantly  rejects,  and 
warns  them  that,  instead  of  accepting  their  offerings.  He 
may  tear  them  in  pieces  and  none  can  deliver. 

Then  the  lesson  of  the  psalm  is  reiterated  in  a  closing 
stanza : 

"  Whoso  ofTereth  praise  glorifieth  me. 
And  to  him  that  ordereth  his  way  of  life  aright 
Will  I  show  the  salvation  to  God." 

Here  then  is  a  solemn  setting  forth  of  the  fact  that  the 
primary  condition  of  acceptable  offering  is  that  the  offerer 
be  in  covenant  relation  with  God.  God  is  not  a  beggar  or  a 
beneficiary  in  any  sense  whatever.  He  is  not  dependent 
upon  the  help  of  any  man  for  carrying  on  His  work.  He 
admits  us  to  a  double  privilege;  first,  of  giving  expres- 
sion and  expansion  to  our  best  impulses ;  and  secondly,  of 
taking  part  with  Him  in  a  holy  ministry  of  benevolence 
and  beneficence.    Hence  the  two  conclusions  follow : 


124  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

First  J  no  unconverted  man  can  offer  an  acceptable 
gift  to  the  Lord.  While  he  hates  instruction  and  casts 
His  words  behind  him,  the  conditions  are  lacking  which 
make  a  gift  acceptable.  Instead  of  being  salted,  it  is 
leavened;  the  corruption  of  unforgiven  sin  and  an  unrec- 
onciled heart  spreads  itself  through  the  offering  and  chal- 
lenges God  not  only  to  reject  the  gift  but  to  destroy  the 
giver ! 

Secondly,  for  believers  to  depend  upon  unconsecrated 
money  to  carry  on  God's  work  is  contrary  to  the  expressed 
will  of  God.  Appeals  to  unconverted  men  for  pecuniary 
aid  in  such  work  are  both  inconsistent  and  harmful.  We 
remember  a  rich  but  godless  man  who  was  approached 
with  a  request  that  he  would  give  $500  to  relieve  a  pres- 
sure of  debt  in  a  Foreign  Missionary  Board.  His  answer 
was :  "  You  ministers  say  from  the  pulpit  that  we  uncon- 
verted rich  men  are  idolaters ;  but  you  come  to  us  idolaters 
for  our  money  to  carry  on  what  you  call  the  Lord's 
work !  "  To  such  deserved  rebuke  the  Church  of  God  lays 
herself  open  by  indiscriminate  appeals  for  money. 

Great  as  is  the  need  of  money,  it  is  not  so  great  as  to 
justify  an  unscriptural  plan  for  raising  it.  God  calls  us 
to  rise  to  the  plane  of  faith ;  to  remember  that  He  owns  all , 
that  the  hearts  of  men  are  in  His  hand ;  that  He  can  un- 
lock the  treasuries  of  the  rich  and  make  the  abundance 
of  poverty  to  abound  unto  the  riches  of  liberality.  All 
frantic  appeals  for  miscellaneous  collections ;  all  eagerness 
to  get  large  gifts  without  regard  to  the  character  of  the 
donors ;  all  representation  of  the  pressing  needs  of  God's 
cause,  as  though  He  were  a  pauper  and  a  beggar;  all 
flattery  of  godless  givers  which  encourages  them  to  think 
they  have  put  God  under  obligation  by  their  gifts,  while 
living  in  rebellion ;  all  slavish  dependence  upon  others  than 
disciples  for  funds  for  work  that  only  disciples  can  either 


CULTURE  OF  GRACE  OF  GIVING        125 

conduct  or  appreciate;  all  this  is  in  violation  of  Bible 
principles  and  causes  blessing  to  be  withheld. 

Great  efforts  to  raise  funds,  with  a  trumpet  flourish  over 
success,  to  be  followed  by  a  reaction,  a  proportionate  de- 
cline in  giving,  depletion  of  treasuries,  and  a  minor  strain 
of  complaint  and  despondency, — surely  this  is  not  God's 
way  of  carrying  on  His  work.  Raising  money  according 
to  a  worldly  fashion  is  walking  by  sight,  not  by  faith,  as 
also  is  using  pressure  of  appeal  more  than  the  prayer  that 
prevails,  depending  on  importunity  with  man  more  than  on 
importunity  with  God.  We  must  not  forget  Who  opens 
human  hearts  and  sends  forth  laborers  into  His  harvest, 
and  bestows  the  spirit  of  liberality;  nor  must  we  look  to 
human  patronage  in  a  work  that  by  its  nature  disdains  any 
patron  but  the  Lord  himself. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE      MOVEMENT      AGAINST      RITUALISM      AND     SACERDO- 
TALISM * 

The  Anglican  Church,  conspicuously,  is  in  the  throes 
of  a  great  convulsion.  Like  an  earthquake  for  which  pent- 
up  fires  have  long  been  preparing,  and  of  which  lesser  up- 
heavings  have  been  the  premonitory  symptoms  and  signals, 
this  modern  outbreak  has  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  given  increasing  indications  that  the  coming  con- 
flict was  inevitable,  and  a  meeting  for  protest  convened  in 
Albert  Memorial  Hall  in  London^  in  January,  1899,  under 
the  chairmanship  of  Baron  Kinnaird,  ten  thousand  Prot- 
estants assembling  to  give  their  grievances  a  voice. 

The  crisis  has  been  hastened,  partly  by  the  bold,  alarm- 
ing, and  flagrant  practices  of  the  Ritualists  and  Roman- 
ists in  the  English  Church,  and  partly  by  that  astonish- 
ing exposure  of  the  facts  found  in  Walter  Walsh's  "  Secret 
History  of  the  Oxford  Movement,'*  which  had  so  rapid  a 
sale  that  it  was  at  one  time  difficult  to  get  a  copy,  not- 
withstanding large  and  repeated  editions.  That  book 
ought  to  be  read  by  every  lover  of  the  Protestant  and  Re- 
formed faith,  and  of  a  simple  apostolic  worship.  No  such 
volume  has  been  published  for  half  a  century,  and  it  can  be 
understood  only  by  a  careful  and  candid  reading.  It  ex- 
hibits the  candor  that  it  challenges  in  others,  and  at  the 
same  time  is  marked  by  a  courtesy,  rare  in  controversy. 
Mr.  Walsh  claims  to  have  reluctantly  undertaken  the 
work,  under  pressure  of  duty  to  open  the  eyes  of  loyal 

•  "  The  Secret  History  of  the  Oxford  Movement,"  By  Walter  Walsh,  pub- 
lished by  the  Church  Association,  London. 

126 


MOVEMENT  AGAINST  RITUALISM       127 

churchmen  to  what  is  going  on  beneath  the  surface;  and 
being  reluctantly  compelled  to  his  task  of  unearthing 
church  secrets,  he  boldly  drags  forth  into  the  daylight  a 
hideous  brood  of  monsters  that  have  been  rapidly  and  in- 
sidiously undermining  the  foundations  of  the  Anglican 
Church  as  a  Protestant,  reformed,  and  anti-Romanist 
body. 

One  conspicuous  feature  of  this  volume  is  that  these 
secret  and  subtle  plotters,  who  seem  Jesuits  in  disguise, 
are  made  to  tell  their  story  in  their  own  words.  Full  ref- 
erences and  proofs  are  given  for  all  statements  made,  and 
the  confirmation  is  draw^n  from  the  writings  of  the  Ritual- 
ists themselves,  almost  all  authorities  quoted  and  appealed 
to  being  ritualistic. 

The  book  thus  appears  to  be  an  unanswerable  array  of 
facts,  and  a  fair  arraignment  of  the  parties  and  the  prac- 
tices which  it  exposes.  Secrecy  has  been  the  veil  behind 
which  these  objectionable  movements  have  been  carried 
on.  Ritualistic  societies  of  this  secret  character  have  been 
annually  increasing  in  number  and  growing  in  member- 
ship and  influence  for  years,  until  the  Church  of  England 
is  honeycombed  with  them,  and  the  ultimate  object  appears 
unmistakably  to  be  corporate  reunion  with  the  Church 
of  Rome. 

One  feature  of  Mr.  Walsh's  volume  is  that  it  gathers 
together  the  scattered  evidence  found  in  various  biogra- 
phies and  letters  of  those  who  have  been  the  head  plotters 
and  actors  in  this  apostasy  from  Protestantism,  and  masses 
the  testimony  so  as  to  give  it  force  and  weight.  Much 
that  in  the  earlier  history  of  affairs  was  successfully  con- 
cealed has  been  revealed,  including  the  secret  or  private 
documents  of  the  Ritualists,  with  reports  of  speeches  ac- 
tually made  in  the  secret  meetings,  where  freedom  was 
naturally  given  to  the  real  expression  of  the  intent  and 
purpose  of  the  actors. 


128  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

The  secret  history  of  the  Priest  of  Absolution  is  here  for 
the  first  time  brought  to  light.  The  exposure,  made 
twelve  years  ago  in  the  House  of  Lords,  by  Lord  Redes - 
dale,  of  the  indecencies  of  the  manual  used  by  ritualistic 
father  confessors,  roused  throughout  Britain  a  great  ex- 
citement, and  so  alarmed  the  brethren  of  the  secret  Society 
of  the  Holy  Cross  (S.  S.  C),  that  they  met  to  consult  as 
to  their  course,  and  the  full  reports  of  their  conferences, 
printed  for  members  only,  are  here  open  to  inspection. 

The  exposure  has  come  none  too  soon,  and  it  is  none 
too  bold.  For  the  Church  of  Rome,  even  Protestants 
may  have  some  respect  and  forbearance,  which  it  presents 
itself  in  its  proper  garb  and  without  any  false  pretenses : 
but  not  for  a  movement,  which,  in  the  guise  of  Protestant- 
ism, is  poisoning  the  very  fountains  of  the  reformed  faith 
and  worship?  This  is  an  act  of  ecclesiastical  treason 
which  has  no  more  claim  to  either  concealment  or  for- 
bearance than  the  acts  of  a  traitor  in  the  state. 

Mr.  Walsh's  four  hundred  pages  ought  to  open  the  eyes 
of  all  lovers  of  pure  faith  and  church  life.  Here  the  veil 
of  estheticism  and  elaborate  ceremony  is  rent  asunder  from 
top  to  bottom,  showing  the  real  intent  and  tendency  of 
artistic  musical  services,  spectacular  display,  imposing 
ceremonial,  gorgeous  man-millinery,  and  the  importations 
of  papal  notions  and  customs,  such  as  the  confessional,  the 
mass,  prayers  for  the  dead,  etc. ;  and,  behind  all  this  out- 
ward pomp  and  grandeur,  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  real 
doctrines  and  practices  which  Protestants  abhor  and  de- 
nounce. 

Mr.  Walsh's  book  is  not,  however,  the  only  expositor 
of  this  occult  Jesuitism  in  the  English  Church.  One  has 
only  to  put  patent  facts  together  to  see  that  the  tendencies 
of  things  are  by  no  means  latent  only.  Ritualism  has  been 
getting  bolder  and  more  defiant  until  there  is  little  hesita- 
tion as  to  open  collision  with  the  bishops,  as  well  as  with 


MOVEMENT  AGAINST  RITUALISM       1 29 

all  remonstrants.  Not  only  confusion,  but  anarchy  pre- 
vails, and  some  diocesans  confess,  as  did  Dr.  Ryle,  the  late 
evangelical  bishop  of  Liverpool,  their  practical  helplessness 
to  contend  with  the  sons  of  Anak  that  have  their  strong- 
hold in  the  very  **  city  of  priests ;  "  and,  alas !  in  too  many 
cases  the  bishops  themselves  are  either  ritualists,  or  con- 
nive at  what  they  ought  to  suppress. 

No  one  disputes  the  right  of  men  in  a  land  of  liberty  to 
follow  conviction,  or  even  tastes  and  preferences.  But 
no  man  has  a  right  to  stay  in  a  church  after  he  is  not  in 
vital  sympathy  with  its  doctrine  and  polity ;  and,  above  all, 
do  common  honesty  and  decency  demand  that  there  shall  be 
obedience  to  law,  regard  for  order,  and  a  still  more  sacred 
respect  for  the  personal  obligations  assumed  and  implied 
in  the  ministry  of  a  church.  For  any  man,  while  yet  in 
a  church  or  denomination,  secretly  or  openly  to  defy  its 
constitutional  law  and  constituted  authority,  is  a  first-class 
offense  against  the  common  law  of  conscience. 

The  saddest  part  of  this  volume  is  perhaps  the  unveiling 
of  the  downright  disingenuousness  and  sometimes  delib- 
erate deception  and  hypocrisy  of  men  who  have  at  least 
been  credited  with  sincerity  of  conviction  and  loyalty  to 
conscience.  One  feels  a  moral  shudder  at  the  atrocious 
frauds  and  unblushing  lies  of  leading  men  in  the  Tracta- 
rian  and  ritualistic  developments  of  the  last  seventy  years. 
Ever  since  1833,  which  Cardinal  Newman  marked  as  the 
starting  point  of  the  Tractarian  movement,  there  has  been 
the  forging  of  a  chain  of  deceptions,  to  which  link  after 
link  has  been  added.  The  Disciplina  Arcani,  or  secret 
teaching  of  the  early  centuries  of  corruption,  seems  to  have 
been  revived ;  and  the  so-called  ''  Economical "  mode  of 
teaching  and  arguing  has  been  one  of  the  prominent  links 
in  this  chain.  Cardinal  Newman  himself  defines  these 
two — one  as  "  withholding  the  truth,"  the  other,  as  "  set- 
ting it  out  to  advantage,"  quoting  with  approval  the  ad- 


130  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

vice  of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  who  gives  rules  to  guide 
the  Christian  in  "  speaking  and  writing  economically:" 

He  both  thinks  and  speaks  the  truth ;  except  when  careful  treat- 
ment is  necessary,  and  then,  as  a  physician  for  the  good  of  his 
patients,  he  will  lie^  or  rather  utter  a  lie,  as  the  sophists  say. 
He  gives  himself  up  for  the  church* 

Mr.  Walsh's  book  traces  the  history  of  the  development 
of  this  Oxford  movement,  and  any  one  can  see  how  nat- 
ural the  steps  are  from  secret  doctrines,  learned  not  from 
the  Word  of  God  but  from  the  church,  to  the  erection  of 
tradition  as  of  coordinate  value  and  authority  with  Scrip- 
ture, and  so  on  to  the  sanctioning  of  customs,  not  only  ex- 
trascriptural,  but  antiscriptural. 

From  the  Ritualists  themselves  it  is  made  plain  that  the 
secret  societies  within  the  Church  of  England  were  for 
"  the  dissemination  of  High  Church  principles,"  and  that 
because  the  open  declaration  of  this  purpose  would  in- 
volve risk  to  its  success,  privacy  and  secrecy  and  subtlety 
were  resorted  to  in  place  of  publicity  and  straightforward- 
ness. The  names  of  the  instigators  of  this  movement 
were,  so  far  and  so  long  as  possible,  concealed.  For  fit- 
teen  years  no  list  of  brethren  of  the  S.  S.  C.  found  its  way 
into  Protestant  hands,  and  the  printed  lists  had  no  dates 
or  places  of  issue  by  which  to  be  traced  to  their  source 
and  time  of  publication.  It  seems  difficult  to  believe  that 
such  men  as  Cardinal  Newman,  Cardinal  Manning,  Dr. 
Pusey,  Joshua  Watson,  Harrell  Froude,  Prof.  Mozley, 
F.  W.  Faber,  and  even  Mr.  Gladstone  could  have  winked 
at  such  methods.  A  letter  from  Newman  has  been  pub- 
lished, in  which  he  confesses,  "  I  expect  to  be  called  a 
papist  when  my  opinions  are  known."  Mr.  Froude  ac- 
knowledges that  he  is  doing  what  he  can  '^  to  proselytize  in 
an  underhand  way/'  and  it  becomes  too  plain  that  many 


*  Secret  History,  etc.,  p.  3* 


MOVEMENT  AGAINST  RITUALISM      131 

who  have  in  pubHc  professed  to  be  evangelicals,  have  in 
private  made  quite  other  professions,  and  belonged  to 
secret  societies,  whose  object  was  unmistakably  Romish. 
Among  the  doctrines  held  back  in  reserve  for  the  initiated 
only,  were  such  as  the  atonement,  free  grace,  etc.,  which 
Protestants  reckon  fundamental  and  for  universal  accept- 
ance. To  conceal  their  real  intent,  some  of  these  Tracta- 
rians  were  "  crypto-papists,"  and  actually  wrote  against 
popery  while  seeking  to  promote  it,  "  teaching  people 
Catholicism  without  their  suspecting  it,"  so  "  that  they 
might  find  themselves  Catholics  before  they  were  aware."* 

Newman  is  thus  shown  to  have  abused  and  denounced 
the  Church  of  Rome  to  cover  his  real  aims,  and  after- 
ward, when  his  temporary  purpose  was  answered,  with- 
drawing all  these  charges. 

A  letter  is  published  from  Rev.  Wm.  G.  Ward,  who 
was  Newman's  successor  in  leading  the  Tractarians,  in 
which  he  confessed  that  he  no  longer  believed  the  English 
Church  to  be  a  part  of  the  true  Church  at  all,  but  "  felt 
bound  to  retain  his  external  communion  with  her  mem- 
bers, because  he  believed  that  he  was  bringing  many  of 
them  toward  Rome"  (p.  15).  We  are  not  surprised  that 
such  a  man  upheld  equivocation,  and  said,  "  Make  your- 
self clear  that  you  are  justified  in  deception,  and  then  lie 

LIKE  A  TROOPER  "   (p.   l6). 

Newman's  "  Coenobitium  "  at  Littlemore,  was  ostensibly 
a  "  hall  "  for  students,  in  reality  a  monastery,  as  he  ac- 
knowledged to  a  friend.  Yet-  he  elaborately  and  in  terms 
denied  this  to  the  bishop  of  Oxford.  We  can  understand 
his  Apologia,  in  the  light  of  such  conduct,  when  he  says : 
"  There  is  some  kind  or  other  of  verbal  misleading  which 
is  not  sin ;  "  but  we  fail  to  see  that  such  use  of  words  is 
"  not  sin." 

Mr.  Walsh  brings  to  the  light  of  noonday  not  only  the 

♦  Ibid,  page  iq. 


132  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

secret  history  of  the  Oxford  movement,  but  the  Society 
of  the  Holy  Cross,  the  secrecy  of  the  ritualistic  confes- 
sional, and  the  Priest  in  absolution,  the  Order  of  Corporate 
Reunion,  the  ritualistic  sisterhoods,  the  Confraternity  of 
the  Blessed  Sacrament,  etc. 

As  to  Ritualism,  a  careful  study  of  the  Old  Testament 
will  reveal  similar  snares,  exposed  long  ago,  in  the  golden 
calf  of  Aaron,  the  brazen  serpent  of  Moses,  the  ephod  of 
Gideon,  Micah's  house  of  gods,  the  carved  altar  of  Ahaz, 
etc.,  all  of  which  are  recorded  for  our  admonition. 

And  now,  in  view  of  all  this,  and  much  more  that  can 
not  here  be  written,  the  solemn  crisis  is  now  before  the 
whole  Church  of  God,  to  be  met  fairly  and  squarely  and 
promptly,  viz. :  What  are  Protestants  going  to  do  about 
the  ritualizing  and  Romanizing  tendencies  so  patent, 
especially  in  prelatical  churches? 

There  is  much  talk  about  ritualism  which  does  not  touch 
the  core  and  root  of  the  evil,  which  is  sacerdotalism,  or 
priestly  pretension.  A  priest  is  something  foreign  to  New 
Testament  ideas,  since  all  believers  are  in  Christ  priests, 
having  priestly  access  and  prerogatives.  The  word  priest 
is  justified  as  an  abbreviation  of  presbyter;  but  practically 
it  is  a  corruption  of  the  Scriptural  term,  and  represents 
one  who  (pre-sto)  stands  before  God  in  place  of  the  be- 
liever— assuming  the  mediatorial  place  and  function. 

Whatever  be  the  etymology,  modern  sacerdotalism  is  a 
subtle  system  of  imposture  which  puts  a  human  being  be- 
tzveen  the  believer  and  Christ.  It  establishes  a  merely  hu- 
man and  arbitrary  medium  of  approach,  thus  preventing 
immediate  access  to  and  fellowship  with  God.  It  renders 
every  believer  or  inquirer  liable  to  forfeit  all  true  blessing 
by  the  fallible  and  even  false  nature  of  that  mediation 
which  alike  perverts  his  conceptions  of  Divine  things,  and 
misleads  him  in  his  supposed  conformity  to  the  Divine 


MOVEMENT  AGAINST  RITUALISM      133 

will.     It  is  an  unwarranted  priestly  intrusion  between  a 
human  soul  and  God. 

To  see  this  clearly  we  need  only  to  put  these  pretensions 
together.  To  consider  the  confessional,  prayers  for  the 
dead,  etc.,  apart  from  this  system,  is  to  lose  their  main 
significance.  These  are  not  disjecta  membra,  but  members 
in  a  body  to  which  they  belong,  and  in  which,  with  sin- 
gular skill,  they  are  fitted  to  their  place.  There  are  at 
least  seven  parts  of  this  body  of  doctrine:  i.  Priestly 
ordination.  2.  Priestly  regeneration.  3.  Priestly  indoc- 
trination. 4.  Priestly  absolution.  5.  Priestly  confirma- 
tion. 6.  Priestly  administration.  7.  Priestly  intercession. 
In  other  words,  ordination,  baptismal  regeneration,  tra- 
dition, confession,  confirmation,  the  real  presence,  and 
prayers  for  the  dead. 

1.  The  basis  of  all  the  rest  is  Priestly  Ordination,  which 
puts  priestly  intervention  between  a  believer  and  his  right 
to  act  as  a  minister  of  Christ,  and  is  supposed  to  confer, 
by  a  sort  of  succession  in  grace,  the  Divine  authority  to 
preach  and  administer  sacraments.  In  the  primitive  days 
all  believers  preached  (Acts  viii:  1-4,  xi:  19,  20),  and 
Philip  baptized,  tho  he  was  set  apart  for  a  temporal  office, 
and  was,  therefore,  a  "  layman,"  and  one  case  breaks  the 
sacred  line.  Priestly  ordination  is  the  head  of  the  whole 
system  of  sacerdotalism,  and,  if  granted,  it  carries  the 
rest  with  it  by  making  a  human  authority  necessary  for  all 
ministry,  so  that  one  is  dependent  for  all  else  upon  such 
priestly  intervention. 

2.  Then  follows  Baptismal  Regeneration,  which  puts 
the  ordained  priest  between  the  infant  child  and  the  church. 
Infant  baptism  becomes  the  means  of  regenerating  the  in- 
fant with  the  Holy  Spirit  and  engrafting  the  child  upon 
the  body  of  Christ. 

3.  Next  follows  Priestly  Interpretation  or  indoctrina- 


134  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

tion,  which  puts  the  priest  between  the  baptized  child  and 
the  Word  of  God.  The  priest  becomes  the  teacher  of  the 
child,  and  churchly  tradition  the  practical  source  of  au- 
thority. Wherever  the  testimony  of  Scripture  is  consid- 
ered doubtful,  tradition  interprets  it;  and  wherever  the 
two  conflict,  tradition  takes  precedence.  Hence  the  Bible 
is  not  a  safe  book  to  be  put  into  the  hands  of  any  but 
priests. 

4.  Priestly  Absolution  naturally  follows.  The  child  is 
supposed  to  err,  fall  short,  commit  sin,  and  the  only  way 
to  get  clear  of  it  is  by  the  way  of  the  confessional.  This 
puts  the  priestly  intervention  between  the  sinner  and  Di- 
vine forgiveness. 

5.  Next  follows  Priestly  ConHrmation,  in  which  is  sup- 
posed to  be  found  the  channel  of  grace  to  the  believer,  as 
in  ordination  to  the  priestly  candidate.  This  puts  priestly 
intervention  between  the  "  child  of  the  church  "  and  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

6.  Then  comes  Priestly  Administration  of  the  Euchar- 
ist, whereby  some  mysterious  change — transubstantiation, 
consubstantiation,  or  whatever  it  be  called — takes  place, 
in  priestly  hands,  in  the  "  bread  and  cup,"  so  that  they 
become  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord.  Hence  the  Lord's 
table  becomes  an  altar,  and  the  Supper  a  sacrifice.  This 
puts  priestly  intervention  between  the  child  of  the  church 
and  Christ's  atoning  death  and  sustaining  life. 

7.  Finally  come  Prayers  for  the  Dead,  The  soul  depart- 
ing lingers  in  some  intermediate  state  of  more  or  less  im- 
perfect and  disciplinary  suffering,  until  priestly  interces- 
sion relieves  it  of  disabilities,  and  promotes  fuller  en- 
trance into  the  heavenly  estate.  This  puts  priestly  inter- 
vention between  the  human  spirit  and  final  entrance  into 
glory.  What  must  the  dying  thief  have  done  with  no 
priest  to  baptize,  instruct,  confirm,  absolve,  administer 
the  "  real  presence,"  or  pray  for  the  repose  of  his  soul ! 


MOVEMENT  AGAINST  RITUALISM      135 

To  put  all  this  together  is  to  see  the  singular  and  subtle 
completeness  of  the  whole  system.  If  priestly  ordination 
is  the  head  of  this  body  of  sacerdotal  pretension,  we  may 
compare  baptismal  regeneration  to  the  breath  which  gives 
life;  priestly  interpretation,  to  the  brain  which  supplies 
thought;  priestly  absolution,  to  the  hands  which  apply 
cleansing  water ;  priestly  Eucharistic  administration,  to  the 
mouth  which  receives  food;  priestly  confirmation,  to  the 
blood  which  affords  vigor;  and  prayers  for  the  dead  to 
the  feet  whereby  all  final  advance  within  the  doors  of 
heaven  is  secured. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  contend  that  for  none  of  these 
features  of  modern  sacerdotalism  there  is  any  Scriptural 
foundation.  All  most  subtle  error  is  at  bottom  a  half 
truth,  and  herein  lies  its  fatal  character;  but  whenever 
even  a  Scriptural  truth  or  practise  is  lifted  into  unscrip- 
tural  prominence,  or  is  linked  with  other  unscriptural 
teachings  and  practises,  it  becomes  error.  Truth  is  wholly 
such  only  while  it  holds  its  true  position  and  true  relation. 
The  most  sacred  teaching,  if  made  to  uphold  error,  be- 
comes practically  erroneous. 

The  question  is  whether  any  permanent  and  thorough 
cure  of  the  existing  malady  in  the  church  can  be  found 
until  disciples  renounce  the  whole  system  of  sacerdotalism 
as  such,  and  return  to  the  simple  New  Testament  faith  and 
life.  A  system  of  idolatry  is  the  inevitable  outcome  of  the 
present  growth  of  the  sacerdotal  pretensions  which  too 
many  meet  with  practical  apathy.  The  priest  is  virtually 
assuming  Divine  prerogatives;  in  the  eyes  of  the  victims 
of  sacerdotal  superstition,  the  water  of  baptism  is  becom- 
ing holy  water,  the  bread  of  the  Lord's  Supper  an  adorable 
"  host,"  the  confessional  a  throne  of  grace,  the  priest  a 
Divine  teacher  and  intercessor,  and  the  church,  instead  of 
a  mere  helper  in  drawing  nigh  to  God,  a  hopeless  barrier 
— not  a  means  to  an  end,  but  itself  the  end. 


136  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

There  seems  to  be  no  alternative  but  to  *'  worship  the 
Lord  in  the  beauty  of  hoHness/'  and  disregard  the  claims 
of  mere  artistic  and  esthetic  beauty.  Under  the  guise  of 
symbolism  and  sacramentarianism  and  sacerdotalism,  we 
are  in  danger  of  creating  new  Nehushtans,  and  erecting 
new  houses  of  idols  under  the  name  of  Christian  churches. 
A  sagacious  Christian  philosopher  said  thirty  years  ago,  as 
he  watched  the  tendencies  already  too  apparent  in  Prot- 
estant churches,  that  the  only  safety  would  be  found  in 
"excluding  any  practises  not  enjoined  or  encouraged  in 
the  New  Testament." 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  PENTECOSTAL  MOVEMENT — PILKINGTON  OF  UGANDA* 

The  crowning  external  revelation  of  the  Word  of  God 
is  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  corresponding 
internal  revelation  of  the  Spirit  in  and  to  the  believer  is 
the  crowning  experience  of  the  Divine  life  and  love. 

Of  all  the  important  spiritual  movements  of  the  half 
century  not  one  compares  in  importance  with  the  revival 
of  interest  in  the  person,  functions,  and  offices,  the  in- 
working  and  out-working  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Without 
this  there  could  be  no  other  truly  spiritual  movement  or 
development;  this  gives  character,  genuineness,  spiritual 
quality,  and  permanent  stability  to  all  other  godly  growths 
in  knowledge,  usefulness,  and  power. 

This  may  be  called  the  Pentecostal  Movement^  since 
the  bestowment  of  the  Spirit  for  fuller  activity  in  and 
through  the  believer,  dates  from  Pentecost.  But  by  this 
name  is  now  meant  the  general  movement,  peculiar  to  our 
day,  in  the  direction  of  new  emphasis  upon  the  work  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  in  three  aspects — sanctifying,  endu- 
ing, and  Ming.  If  any  regard  these  latter  terms,  enduing 
and  filling,  as  equivalent,  we  do  not  care  to  defend  the  dis- 
tinction, but  only  to  lay  heavy  stress  upon  one  all-im- 
portant fact  and  need;  the  fact  that  most  disciples  prac- 
tically have  never  yet  known  the  Holy  Spirit  as  a  presid- 
ing and  controlling  power,  and  the  corresponding  need, 
which,  of  all  deficiencies  in  Christian  experience,  is  the 
most  lamentable  and  deplorable. 

♦  See  "  Pilkington  of  Uganda,"  by  C.  F.  Harford-Battersby,  published  by 
Marshall  Bros.,  London,  and  Fleming  H.  Re  veil  Co.,  New  York. 

137 


138  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

First  of  all,  we  call  attention  to  the  Scripture  teaching, 
and  to  the  progress  of  doctrine,  so  conspicuous  when  the 
great  leading  texts  are  set  in  order  as  they  occur  in  the 
New  Testament. 

Our  Lord,  as  Matthew  reports,  says,  in  that  first  great 
discourse  which  held  the  germs  of  all  His  subsequent 
teaching : 

If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto 
your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your  Father  which  is 
in  Heaven  give  good  things  to  them  that  ask  Him? 
Matt,  vii:  II. 

Luke,  in  his  report  of  the  same  discourse,  specifies  a 
particular  good  gift: 

How  much  more  shall  your  Heavenly  Father  give  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  Him?  Luke  xi:  13. 

Upon  a  comparison  of  the  Gospel  narratives  this  ap- 
pears to  be  the  earliest  statement,  in  the  order  of  time, 
found  in  the  New  Testament,  as  to  the  gift  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  to  the  believer  in  anszver  to  prayer.  Up  to  this 
point  there  had  been  no  mention  of  the  Spirit,  except  in 
His  relation  to  the  person  of  Christ,  or  as  connected  with 
the  gift  of  prophecy,  as  in  Zacharias,  Elizabeth,  Simeon, 
etc.,  or  by  way  of  teaching  the  new  birth,  etc.  But,  from 
this  point  on,  it  becomes  clearer,  that  believing  prayer  can 
claim  of  the  Father  a  special  gift  of  the  Spirit,  and  a  few 
texts  bearing  upon  the  development  of  this  doctrine  should 
ever  be  written  large  in  the  memory.  Conspicuous  among 
these  are  the  following: 

In  the  last  day,  that  great  day  of  the  feast,  Jesus  stood 
and  cried :  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  Me  and 
drink.  He  that  believeth  on  Me,  as  the  Scripture  hath 
said,  out  of  his  belly  {i.  e.,  the  inner  man)  shall  flow  rivers 
of  living  water.  But  this  spake  He  of  the  Spirit  which 
they  that  believe  on  Him  should  receive.     For  the  Holy 


THE  PENTECOSTAL  MOVEMENT       139 

Ghost  was  not  yet  given;  because  Jesus  was  not  yet  glori- 
fied.    John  vii :  37-39. 

At  this  stage  of  progress  in  the  unfolding  of  the  truth, 
we  learn  that  this  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  will  make  the 
disciples'  inner  life  a  fountain  of  life  to  others,  so  that  from 
him  shall  flow  spiritual  rivers  of  Spirit  power  and  influ- 
ence ;  and  that  such  gift  of  the  Spirit  waits  for  Christ's 
glorification  as  the  condition  of  its  bestowment. 

Next,  we  meet  that  inspiring  passage  in  Mark,  so 
unique  in  its  teaching  as  to  the  condition  of  a  proper 
asking : 

And  Jesus  answering  saith  unto  them,  Have  faith  in 
God  (or  reckon  on  God's  good  faith).  Therefore  I  say 
unto  you,  What  things  soever  ye  desire  when  ye  pray,  be- 
lieve that  ye  receive  them  and  ye  shall  have  them.  Mark 
xi:  22-24. 

Here  we  rise  to  another  sublime  height  of  teaching. 
The  first  passage  quoted  revealed  God's  fatherly  readiness 
to  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  Him ;  the  second 
showed  the  effect  of  such  gift  in  making  the  recipient  a 
reservoir  of  living  spiritual  power  and  blessing;  and  now 
we  are  taught  that,  in  asking  for  such  a  supremely  good 
gift,  we  must  reckon  on  the  faithfulness  of  God  to  His 
promise ;  not  only  desiring  and  praying  for  the  Spirit,  but 
trusting  our  Heavenly  Father  to  do  as  He  says.  We  are 
not  to  depend  upon  our  consciousness  of  some  new  force 
within,  or  on  our  own  inward  frames  of  feeling.  It  is  a 
question,  not  of  perceiving,  but  of  receiving.  If  we  come 
and  desire  and  ask,  having  no  doubt  that  God  will  keep 
good  faith  with  us,  we  shall  have  this  good  gift. 

One  other  stage  in  this  progressive  teaching  is  the  last 
discourse  of  our  Lord,  recorded  in  John  xiv-xvi,  where 
there  is  more  teaching  about  the  Spirit  than  in  all  the  pre- 
vious narratives  of  the  four  Gospels  combined ;  out  of  this 


140  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

wonderful  talk  of  our  Master,  we  select  two  very  signifi- 
cant sentences: 

He  dwelleth  with  you  and  shall  be  in  you.  John 
xiv:  17. 

Here  there  appears  to  be  a  declaration  of  a  present  fact 
and  an  intimation  of  a  fact  yet  future.  (^«/o^  ^M^^  Mevet^ 
xai  Bv  v/iiv  edrai.)  There  was  a  sense  in  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  already  with  them,  but  there  was  another  sense 
in  which  He  was  yet  to  be  revealed  as  in  them. 

The  other  text  is  John  xvi :  7 : 

Nevertheless,  I  tell  you  the  truth:  It  is  expedient  for 
you  that  I  go  away,  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter 
will  not  come  unto  you ;  but,  if  I  depart,  I  will  send  Him 
unto  you. 

What  mysterious  elevations  of  truth!  So  important 
was  this  gift  that  to  receive  it  would  repay  for  Christ's 
withdrawal !  How  few  have  ever  reflected  on  that  fact  and 
realized  its  awe-inspiring  grandeur!  To  have  the  per- 
sonal companionship  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  but  lose  the  fulness 
of  the  Spirit's  revelation  within,  would  be  a  calamity — so 
Christ  himself  teaches. 

How  immeasurably  important  then,  that  every  disciple 
should  know  his  own  need  of  the  Spirit,  should  feel  the  im- 
possibility of  any  compensation  for  such  a  lack,  should  un- 
derstand how  ready  God  is  to  give  the  Spirit,  and  should 
pray  in  faith  for  the  gift ! 

There  is  one  ditch  into  which  many  believers  practically 
fall,  so  that  they  never  get  to  the  firm  resting-place  of  ac- 
tual reception  of  this  crowning  gift  of  God.  They  say  the 
Spirit  of  God  was  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  given,  fully, 
finally,  and  to  all  believers,  and  hence  is  not  to  be  sought 
or  asked  in  prayer  as  an  unbestowed  boon.  In  one  sense 
this  is  true,  but  in  another  sense  it  is  a  snare.  There  was 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost  an  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  on  all 


THE  PENTECOSTAL  MOVEMENT        141 

believers.  The  new  dispensation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was 
then  inaugurated,  and  we  are  not,  therefore,  to  look  for 
any  such  bestowment  of  the  Spirit.  But,  individually,  we 
find  disciples  filled  with  the  Spirit  subsequently,  and  in 
Ephesians  v :  18,  we  find  a  distinct  command,  "  Be  filled 
with  the  Spirit."  There  must  therefore  be  some  true 
sense  in  which  disciples  are  to  claim,  receive,  and  avail 
themselves  of  this  last  and  greatest  gift  of  God.  Christ 
was  once  offered  for  all,  a  sacrifice  for  sin,  but  every  new 
believer  takes  Christ  as  a  Savior,  and  so  makes  practically 
available  the  work  of  Christ  for  sinners ;  and  so  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  once  for  all  given,  but  every  believing  child  of 
God  accepts  and  receives  the  fulness  of  this  gift  by  faith, 
so  that  practically  it  is  as  tho  the  Spirit  had  been  specially 
given  to  him. 

For  the  philosophy  of  the  matter  we  are  not  jealous,  but 
for  the  practical  realization  of  the  fact  we  well  may  be ; 
and  it  is  perhaps  best  to  drop  all  mere  punctilious  criticism 
of  terminology  and  verbal  expression,  in  the  intense  desire 
that  all  disciples  may  know  and  make  real  their  experi- 
mental share  in  the  Pentecostal  gift. 

One  fact  knocks  over  all  hostile  theories:  Men  and 
women  are  in  our  day  coming  into  an  entirely  new  experi- 
ence by  the  enduement  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  case  of  George  L.  Pilkington,  of  Uganda,  presents 
an  instance  in  point. 

Referring  to  his  own  need  of  the  Spirit  he  says : 

If  it  had  not  been  that  God  enabled  me  after  three  years  in  the 
mission  field  to  accept  by  faith  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  I 
should  have  given  up  the  work.  I  could  not  have  gone  on  as  I 
was  then.  A  book  by  David,  the  Tamil  evangelist,  showed  me 
that  my  life  was  not  right,  that  I  had  not  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  I  had  consecrated  myself  hundreds  of  times,  but  I  had 
not  accepted  God's  gift.  I  saw  now  that  God  commanded  me  to 
be  filled  with  the  Spirit.    Then  I  read :  "  All  things  whatsoever 


142  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ye  pray  and  ask  for,  believe  that  ye  have  received  them  and  ye 
shall  have  them"  (Mark  xi :  24,  R.  V.),  and  claiming  this 
promise  I  received  the  Holy  Spirit.     (P.  222.) 

I  distinguished  between  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with 
us  and  in  us ;  our  blessed  Lord  said  to  His  disciples,  "  He 
abideth  with  you  and  shall  be  in  you."    John  xiv:  17.     (P.  224.) 

"  He  that  believeth  on  me,  out  of  his  belly  shall  flow  rivers  (not 
a  stream  or  a  simple  river)  of  living  water.  Greater  works  than 
these  shall  ye  do  because  I  go  unto  the  Father."  What  are  these 
rivers  and  where  are  these  mighty  works?  We  must  ask  rather, 
where  is  "  he  that  believeth  on  Him  ?  Surely,  He  is  not  un- 
faithful to  a  single  line  of  His  promise.  What  wonder  that  in- 
fidelity abounds  when  the  worst  infidelity  of  all  is  in  our  hearts ! 
What  wonder  if  popery  increases,  when  we  have  dethroned  the 
Holy  Spirit  from  our  hearts!"     (P.  223.) 

About  this  same  time  a  great  desire  arose  for  mission 
services  to  be  held  in  Uganda.  In  the  absence  of  special 
missioners  from  abroad,  it  occurred  to  the  missionaries 
that  God  wanted  to  use  them,  and  all  in  prayer  newly 
dedicated  themselves  to  Him,  and  asked  Him  to  baptize 
them  anew.    This  was  December  8,  1893. 

That  very  morning  they  began.  They  had  not  told  the 
people,  but  went  up  after  prayer,  at  the  usual  time,  believ- 
ing for  a  blessing.  Mr.  Pilkington  conducted  the  meet- 
ing.   They  sang 

Have  you  been  to  Jesus  for  the  cleansing  power? 

and  Mr.  Pilkington  prayed,  and  then  spoke  of  a  very  sad 
case  which  had  indirectly  led  to  the  conviction  of  the  need 
of  such  meetings,  and  of  a  new  power  from  God  coming 
on  the  native  church  and  even  on  the  missionaries.  A 
certain  Musa  Yakuganda  had  asked  to  have  his  name 
given  out  as  having  returned  to  the  state  of  a  heathen,  and 
his  reason  was  startling :  "  I  get  no  profit  from  your  re- 
ligion." Being  asked  if  he  knew  what  he  was  saying,  he 
replied :  "  Do  you  think  I  have  been  reading  seven  years 
^nd  do  not  understand  ?    Your  religion  does  not  profit  me 


THE  PENTECOSTAL  MOVEMENT        143 

at  all.  I  have  done  with  it."  Pilkington  pointed  out 
what  a  cause  of  shame  and  reproach  such  a  case  was  to 
the  missionaries.  The  need  of  the  deeper  and  fuller  life 
and  power  of  the  Spirit  took  strong  hold  on  the  mission- 
ary preachers  and  teachers,  and  first  of  all  humbled  them 
before  God.  Then  blessing  came  to  the  whole  native 
church,  until  hundreds  were  all  praying  for  forgiveness, 
while  others  were  in  the  simplest  language  praising  God. 

Each  morning  fully  five  hundred  were  present,  and  they 
found  themselves  in  the  midst  of  a  great  spiritual  revival, 
and  their  joy  was  beyond  expression.  The  after  meetings 
saw  two  hundred  waiting  for  individual  dealing.  Among 
other  fruits  of  this  work  was  that  same  Musa  who  had 
announced  his  return  to  heathenism.  Great  chiefs  boldly 
confessed  their  wish  to  accept  Christ,  and  one  chief,  who 
had  been  a  leading  teacher  but  suspended  for  misconduct, 
acknowledged,  in  the  presence  of  the  king  and  his  pages, 
that  he  had  not  before  accepted  the  Lord  Jesus  as  his 
Savior,  but  did  so  then.  The  missionaries  appointed  the 
week  following  the  mission  services  as  a  time  for  special 
meetings  for  the  deepening  of  the  spiritual  Hfe. 

Those  wonderful  three  days,  Dec.  8-10,  1893,  will  never 
be  forgotten.  They  were  the  signal  for  years  of  blessing, 
Pentecostal  in  character  and  wonderful  in  results.  First 
of  all  God  had  brought  the  missionaries  to  humble  them- 
selves, feel  their  need,  and  seek  larger  blessing — to  be  filled 
with  the  Spirit.  Then  they  were  led  to  confess  to  the 
native  church  their  previous  lack  of  faith,  of  power,  and 
of  prayer,  and  to  ask  God  for  forgiveness.  Then  came 
similar  humiliations  and  confessions  among  the  Christians 
of  Uganda.  Many  who  had  been  looked  upon  as  leading 
disciples  began  to  see  their  lack  also,  and  to  realize  a  new 
force  and  power  in  their  Christian  experience.  In  fact, 
such  a  spirit  of  confession  and  humiliation  was  poured 
out  on  the  native  church,  and  such  secret  sins  came  to  light 


144  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

in  this  great  upturning  and  uncovering  of  hidden  things, 
that  the  missionaries  felt  called  on  to  restrain  these  public 
confessions,  lest  they  should  bring  too  great  reproach  on 
the  name  of  Christ,  and  the  awakened  backsliders  were 
counseled  to  seek  the  brethren  for  private  confession  and 
prayer  before  God. 

The  conversions  and  reclamations  were  almost  invari- 
ably connected  with  knowledge  of  the  Word  of  God.  At 
the  Liverpool  Conference  in  1896,  Mr.  Pilkington  said: 

"  The  power  to  read  the  Bible  is  the  key  to  the  kingdom 
of  God.  With  the  exception  of  one  case,  I  have  never  in 
Uganda  known  any  to  profess  Christ  who  could  not  read." 

Throughout  this  great  revival  God  put  special  and  very 
remarkable  emphasis  upon  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the 
means  both  of  the  new  birth  and  the  new  quickening  in 
spiritual  life.  Reading  houses,  or,  as  the  people  called 
them,  "  synagogi,"  were  built  where  native  teachers  could 
instruct  the  people  under  the  supervision  of  more  experi- 
enced workers.  This  system  became  a  leading  feature  of 
the  work  in  Uganda,  and  was  the  means  of  causing  the  re- 
vival which  started  in  the  capital  to  spread  that  same  year 
far  and  wide  through  the  various  outlying  stations. 

By  April  i,  1894,  between  thirty  and  forty  teachers  had 
offered  themselves  for  such  service  in  the  country  districts, 
and  thirteen  were  solemnly  sent  out  in  one  Sunday,  and 
seven  more  the  next  week.  Shortly  word  came  from  the 
islands  of  an  enormous  increase  of  "  reading."  A  spirit  of 
new  inquiry  was  found,  even  among  Roman  Catholics  and 
Moslems.  In  the  autumn  of  1894,  before  the  church  at 
Mengo  fell  in  a  great  storm,  at  least  2,000  were  assembling 
every  weekday  morning,  and  in  the  200  country  churches 
some  7,000  more,  and  on  Sundays,  20,000  in  the  various 
places  of  meeting.  Of  these,  6,000  were  in  classes,  under 
regular  instruction;  and  this  great  work,  reaching  out  over 
a  circle  of.  territory  thr^ee  hundred  miles  in  diameter-,  and 


THE  PENTECOSTAL  MOVEMENT        145 

nearly  one  thousand  in  circumference,  had  to  be  directed 
by  only  twelve  Europeans,  who  worked  with  the  double 
hindrance  of  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  language 
and  constant  liability  to  fever.  Yet  with  all  these  disad- 
vantages, the  work  so  rapidly  extended  that,  when  in 
December,  1894,  the  year  was  reviewed,  some  such  results 
as  the  following  were  obvious  as  signs  of  God's  moving : 

When  the  year  began  the  number  of  country  churches, 
reading  rooms,  or  synagogi,  did  not  exceed  twenty ;  at  the 
close  of  the  year  there  were  ten  times  that  number,  and  the 
ten  largest  would  hold  4,500  persons.  Exclusive  of  the 
capital,  there  were  on  week  days  not  less  than  4,000,  and 
on  Sundays,  20,000  hearers  of  the  Gospel.  The  first 
teachers,  paid  by  the  native  church,  went  forth  in  April, 
and  in  December  there  were  131  of  these,  in  85  stations, 
twenty  of  which,  being  outside  Uganda  proper,  were  in 
a  sense  foreign  mission  stations.  Even  these  figures  can 
not  represent  the  whole  work,  nor  does  this  number  em- 
brace all  the  teachers,  twenty  of  whom  not  reckoned  in  the 
above  number  were  at  work  at  Jungo.  At  Bu'si  also,  an 
island  near  Jungo,  there  were  three  churches,  and  2,000 
people  under  instruction.  The  "  readers  "  ordinarily  be- 
came catechumens,  and  the  catechumens  candidates  for 
baptism  In  1893  the  catechumens  numbered  170,  during 
the  year  1894  some  800  were  baptized,  and  1,500  catechu- 
mens remained.  The  movement,  so  far  from  having  ex- 
pended its  force,  seemed  not  yet  to  have  reached  its  height^ 
and  there  was  every  evidence  that  an  enormous  accession 
would  yet  come,  as  was  the  case. 

Mr.  Pilkington,  being  in  England  on  furlough,  in 
1895-6,  electrified  his  audiences  by  his  stirring  account  of 
the  dealings  of  God  with  the  Uganda  mission.  Emphasis 
was  laid  on  this  fact,  that  the  iirst  step  in  this  vivification 
of  the  church  in  Uganda  was  this,  that  the  missionaries 
and  teachers  themselves  zvere  led  to  just  views  of  their 


146  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

own  deep  need;  they  saw  the  absolute  necessity  for  per- 
sonal consecration,  and  the  experience  of  a  direct  and 
supreme  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  themselves. 

Here,  then,  is  another  mighty  argument  for  seeking, 
with  a  desperate  sense  of  helplessness,  and  with  a  confident 
faith  in  God's  promise.  Holy  Ghost  power.  Not  to  Mr. 
Pilkington  and  his  fellow-workers  only,  was  this  indis- 
pensable, but  the  whole  native  church  of  Uganda  owes  the 
almost  unparalleled  movement  of  that  decade  of  years  to 
the  new  enduements  of  power  which  proved  even  to  these 
missionaries  such  a  divine  equipment  for  their  work,  and 
to  the  native  evangelists  also. 

A  few  examples  of  the  efficiency  of  these  Waganda 
evangelists  will  suffice. 

A  missionary  visiting  a  small  island  in  the  lake  two  or 
three  years  ago,  found  but  one  person  who  could  read  at 
all.  Two  teachers  were  sent,  and,  after  nine  months,  sixty 
were  reading  the  Gospel.  Two  teachers  were  sent  to  an- 
other island,  and  in  a  year  one  very  rude  church  building, 
that  even  when  uncomfortably  full  could  hold  but  one 
hundred,  had  multiplied  into  four,  one  of  which  would 
hold  seven  hundred;  the  congregation  of  a  hundred  had 
multiplied  tenfold,  and  fifty  or  more  had  been  baptized. 

On  the  large  island  of  Sese  all  the  chiefs  are  Roman 
Catholics.  Yet  there  are  some  three  hundred  and  twenty 
Protestants,  nicknamed  "  The  people  of  the  Holy  Ghost," 
which,  like  the  nickname  "  Christians  "  at  Antioch,  is  an 
honor,  not  a  reproach ;  and  these  disciples,  ignorant  as  they 
are,  evince  a  like  readiness  with  the  early  Christians  to 
face  opposition  and  persecution  for  His  name,  and  no- 
where has  a  greater  desire  for  "  reading  "  been  shown. 

The  educational  value  of  the  reading  of  God's  Word  has 
been  very  noticeable  in  Uganda.  The  very  physiognomy 
of  the  people  seems  to  have  been  modified  by  it,  so  that  it 
is  almost  possible  to  distinguish  a  reader  by  his  outward 


THE  PENTECOSTAL  MOVEMENT        147 

appearance.  The  reality  of  God  seems  to  impress  itself  on 
the  native  mind  more  forcibly  by  this  daily  poring  over  the 
pages  of  the  New  Testament,  at  first  mechanically  and  al- 
most blindly,  then  with  eyes  partially  opened  to  catch  a 
glimpse  or  a  glimmering  of  the  meaning,  until,  with  an- 
other illumining  touch  of  God,  the  Divine  message  of  love 
is  intelligently  grasped.  Sometimes  the  impression  is  like 
a  driven  nail  clinched  and  fastened  by  a  sermon,  or  a 
prayer  service,  or  the  faithful  words  of  a  friend.  What 
a  lesson  God  is  thus  teaching  us  all  as  to  the  honor  and 
value  He  sets  on  His  own  Word,  and  this  at  a  time  when, 
more  than  ever  before,  even  professed  Christian  teachers 
in  Christian  lands  seem  bent  on  lowering  in  the  public 
mind  the  sense  of  the  digfnity  and  majesty  of  the  Heavenly 
message. 

At  first  those  of  the  Baganda  who  hear  these  words 
find  them  unintelligible;  such  terms  as  sin  and  salvation, 
love  and  faith,  convey  little  meaning  to  minds  that  have 
been  cast  in  the  narrow  and  cramped  mold  of  heathen- 
ism. But,  as  they  hear  and  read,  Scripture  interprets  it- 
self, and  under  the  light  of  the  Spirit  they  get  totally  new 
ideas  of  Divine  mysteries. 

The  outcome  of  this  Holy  Spirit  revival  in  Uganda  can 
not  be  measured;  only  from  the  Spirit  comes  the  clear 
vision  of  Divine  truth,  as  well  as  the  inward  experience 
of  Divine  life,  and  in  the  native  preachers  have  been  de- 
veloped remarkable  spiritual  discernment  and  power  in 
presenting  truth. 

A  preacher  at  Mengo  said  in  his  sermon  that  "  to  form  a 
judgment  of  man's  deserts,  man's  way  is  to  put  into  one 
scale  his  evil  deeds  and  vices,  and  into  the  other  his  virtues 
and  religious  observances;  but  that  God's  way  in  such  a 
case  would  be  to  put  both  these  into  the  same  debit  scale" 
This  native  preacher  had  learned  that  rudimental  truth, 
hidden  from  many  of  the  wise  and  prudent,  that  "  all  our. 


148  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

righteousnesses  are  as  filthy  rags,"  and  that  the  only  hope 
of  justification  is  that  the  perfect  obedience  of  our  ador- 
able Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  shall  be  placed  in  the  credit  scale, 
and  so  overbalance  and  outweigh  our  evil  and  selfish 
deeds. 

Another  preacher,  discriminating  between  inward  heart 
piety  on  one  hand  and  outward  religious  observances  on 
the  other,  used  the  following  apt  and  original  simile: 

Religion  may  be  compared  to  a  banana  (the  natural  food  of 
the  Baganda).  The  real  heart  religion  is  the  juicy  pulp;  the 
forms  and  ceremonies  are  the  skin.  While  the  two  are  united 
and  undivided  the  banana  keeps  good  until  it  is  used.  And  so 
it  is  with  religion.  Separate  the  forms  from  the  spirit,  and  the 
one  will  be  of  no  more  value  than  the  banana  husk,  while  the 
latter  will  speedily  decay  and  become  corrupt,  apart  from  the 
outward  expression.  Observances  have  their  value  in  protecting 
the  holy  germ  within,  and  fostering  the  feelings  of  the  heart. 
(P.  248.) 

This  discourse  had  its  suggestion  in  a  certain  spirit  of 
insubordination,  which  sought  to  rebel  against  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  church.  But,  as  Mr.  Pilkington  asks, 
"  What  European  teacher  could  have  used  such  a  simile." 

Another  native  preacher,  referring  to  Romish  teaching, 
said: 

No  poisoner  gives  poison  meat  if  he  would  remain  undis- 
covered. The  devil  knows  that.  He  has  two  devices;  he  will 
do  one  of  two  things;  first  try  to  deprive  you  of  food,  and  if 
he  can  not,  he  will  corrupt  it.     (P.  248.) 

Pilkington  before  British  hearers  pleaded  earnestly  for 
a  sufficient  force  to  take  possession  of  this  great  opportu- 
nity in  Uganda,  for  a  hundred  additional  missionaries,  men 
and  women  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  organizers  and 
leaders  for  native  workers_,  at  least  ten  of  whom  could 
master,  and  then  translate  into,  the  native  tongues;  an^ 
with  rare  insight  into  the  true  philosophy  of  missions  he 


THE  PENTECOSTAL  MOVEMENT        149 

urged  a  new  policy  of  occupation.  He  contended  that  the 
only  true  method  of  distributing  missionary  workers  is  to 
send  a  large  force  where  a  desire  for  instruction  and  an 
aggressive  missionary  spirit  have  been  strongly  developed 
among  the  native  converts,  instead  of  sending  the  bulk  of 
missionary  force  to  places  where  there  is  neither  desire  for 
teachers  nor  a  missionary  spirit.  And  his  argument  is 
that  the  ultimate  outcome  of  the  former  method  will  be 
far  the  greater  in  good.  For  instance,  he  says,  after  ten 
years  little  or  no  impression  will  have  been  made  on  the  in- 
different and  hostile  community,  and  this  begets  depres- 
sion among  the  workers  and  in  the  church  at  home. 
Whereas,  if  the  work,  at  the  field  where  God's  Spirit  has 
been  outpoured,  were  reenforced,  it  will  so  progress  that  it 
becomes  a  source  of  wide  influence ;  a  strong  native  church 
is  developed  with  a  large  force  of  native  evangelists,  and 
thus  the  fire  God  has  kindled  is  carried  to  the  other  field 
and  transferred  to  this  other  center.  The  result  is  en- 
couragement both  among  the  missionary  band  and  the 
supporters  at  home. 

So  moving  was  this  plea  that  the  missionaries  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  in  India  asked  the  society, 
when  it  could  be  done,  to  send  candidates,  offering  to  go 
to  India,  to  Uganda,  for  the  time  being,  instead,  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  exceptional  opening  in  that  field,  the 
growing  conviction  being  that  God's  singular  blessing  in 
any  particular  field  is  a  signal  for  a  special  reenforcement 
at  that  time  of  the  force  at  work  there. 

Mr.  Pilkington  gave,  in  Britain,  a  vivid  picture  of  the 
Uganda  work  in  the  shape  of  four  consecutive  scenes, 
afterward  issued  in  pamphlet  form,  and  called  "  The 
Gospel  in  Uganda." 

A  hundred  thousand  souls  brought  into  close  contact  with  the 
Gospel,  half  of  them  able  to  read  for  themselves;  two  hundred 
buildings  raised  by  native  Christians,  in  which  to  worship  and 


150  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

read  the  Word  of  God;  two  hundred  native  evangelists  and 
teachers  wholly  supported  by  the  native  church;  ten  thousand 
New  Testaments  in  circulation ;  six  thousand  souls  seeking  in- 
struction daily ;  numbers  of  candidates  for  baptism,  confirmation ; 
adherents  and  teachers  more  than  doubling  each  year  for  six 
or  seven  years,  and  God's  power  shown  by  their  changed  lives — 
and  all  these  results  in  the  very  center  of  the  world's  thickest 
spiritual  darkness  and  death  shade ! 

This  was  in  1896,  and  the  later  reports  eclipse  even  this. 

The  changes  wrought  by  the  Gospel  in  Uganda  can  be  ap- 
preciated only  by  setting  in  sharp  contrast  the  state  of  things  in 
1880  and  in  1895. 

Old  Isaiah,  "  the  good-natured  giant,"  will  tell  you  how  three 
hundred  brothers  and  cousins  of  the  king  were  penned  within 
the  narrow  limits  of  the  dike,  still  visible  by  the  roadside,  two 
or  three  miles  north  of  Mengo,  and  by  his  orders  left  there  to 
starve  to  death !  A  boy  of  fifteen  lost  sight  of  a  goat  he  was 
herding,  and  his  master  cut  off  his  ear.  For  a  trifling  misde- 
meanor both  eyes  were  gouged  out.  An  unfortunate  courtier 
accidentally  trod  on  the  king's  mat,  and  paid  the  penalty  with 
his  life.  The  king,  simply  to  support  his  royal  dignity,  ordered 
the  promiscuous  slaughter  of  all  who  happened  to  be  standing 
on  his  right  and  left  hand,  or  all  who  might  be  met  on  the  streets 
at  a  certain  time,  by  a  band  sent  out  for  the  purpose  of  such 
slaughter.  Should  a  remonstrance  be  made  against  killing  the 
innocent,  the  answer  would  be,  "  If  I  only  kill  the  guilty,  the 
innocent  will  not  respect  me."  Women  and  children  were  sold 
into  helpless  slavery  and  misery.  Spirits  were  believed  in,  feared, 
propitiated,  and  worshiped.  Charms  were  worn;  woman  was 
a  beast  of  burden,  etc.  Christ  and  his  Gospel  has  changed  all 
this.  Domestic  slavery  no  longer  has  any  legal  status,  and  any 
slave  may  claim  freedom,  and  this  claim  will  be  honored. 
Woman  takes  her  place  by  man's  side.  Conversion  has  brought 
victory  over  vicious  habits;  cruelty  is  seen  to  be  cruelty,  and 
around  the  Lord's  table  gather  from  time  to  time  those  who 
were  once  darkness,  but  now  light  in  the  Lord,  "  washed,  sanc- 
tified, justified,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit 
of  our  God. 


CHAPTER  Xll 

BIBLE  SCHOOLS,   AND   CONVENTIONS 

The  commentator,  Ewald,  holding  up  a  Greek  New 
Testament,  declared  to  his  students,  that  that  one  little 
book  had  in  it  more  than  all  the  wisdom  of  the  ages, — put- 
ting in  one  sentence  the  sublime  secret  of  its  hold  on  the 
mind,  as  well  as  the  heart,  of  intelligent  believers.  This 
also  explains  the  fact  that,  exactly  in  proportion  to  the 
actual  prominence  of  the  Bible  in  our  faith  and  life,  will 
holy  living  and  holy  serving  most  truly  develop. 

The  unique  position  of  the  Word  of  God  lies  in  this, 
that  it  claims  to  be,  and  justifies  the  claim  to  be,  the  One 
Book  which  God  has  given  to  man  as  a  revelation  of  His 
will.  Its  plenary  inspiration  and  complete  adaptation  to 
man's  wants  make  it  at  once,  as  James  teaches,  the  perfect 
mirror  of  character;  as  David  teaches,  the  perfect  medi- 
cine for  the  soul ;  as  Paul  teaches,  the  perfect  mold  of  holy 
manhood  (Rom.  vi,  17.  Greek)  ;  and,  as  all  inspired  wri- 
ters agree,  the  miracle-worker  which  transforms  the  heart 
and  life. 

There  is  a  reason,  and  a  very  special  one,  for  giving  to 
this  authoritative  Word  of  God  an  exaltation  in  our  pres- 
ent daily  life  of  study,  which  had  been  in  previous  cen- 
turies impossible.  Few  of  us  appreciate  the  difference  be- 
tween ancient  and  modern  times,  in  the  facilities  for  indi- 
vidual Bible  reading  and  searching.  In  the  remote  days  of 
Ezra,  copies  of  the  sacred  books  were  so  rare  that  all  the 
multitude  could  hope  to  do  would  be  to  hear  passages  read 
and  expounded,  and  such  privileges  brought  overwhelm- 

151 


152  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ing  joy.  (Nehemiah  viii.)  In  Luther's  days,  only  three 
and  a  half  centuries  since,  the  Bible  was  found  only  in 
convents  and  public  sanctuaries,  and  even  there  chained  to 
a  pillar  as  a  rare  and  costly  treasure. 

Ruskin  reminds  us  how  books  introduce  to  the  company 
of  the  wise,  and  great,  and  good,  at  whose  doors  we  other- 
wise so  often  wait  vainly  for  admittance.  What  shall  we 
then  say  of  the  supreme  honor  and  privilege  of  Bible  study, 
since  this  is  the  "  open  sesame  " — the  mystic  watchword 
which  opens  the  door  to  the  true  King's  treasuries !  By 
this  devout  search  into  the  Word  of  God  we  actually  un- 
lock the  secret  chambers  of  God,  and  find  that  "  where  the 
Word  of  a  King  is,  there  is  power."  (Eccl.  viii:  4.) 
Here  the  most  marvelous  wonders  burst  on  our  astonished 
eyes.  The  Bible  is  God's  palace,  and  it  has  palatial  apart- 
ments, indeed.  There  is  one — the  very  sanctuary  of  the 
Word — where  the  living  oracles  are  heard ;  another,  where 
the  complex  mirrors  reflect  all  our  past  and  present,  and 
even  forecast  our  future  history;  yet  others  which  are 
chambers  of  peace,  whose  windows  look  out  on  the 
heavenly  hills,  and  the  very  atmosphere  of  w^hich  is  rest. 
The  Bible  has  its  picture  galleries,  with  portraits  of  holy 
men  and  women,  and,  above  all,  the  very  image  of  the 
Son  of  God ;  it  has  its  museum  with  the  unfolding  mys- 
teries of  God,  and  the  curious  relics  of  antiquity  for  in- 
struction and  admonition ;  there  is  also  a  banquet-hall  for 
the  refreshment  of  all  believers,  where  babes  may  find 
milk,  and  the  strong  man,  meat  and  honey.  And  in  one  of 
these  glorious  rooms  we  may  find  the  crown  jewels,  which 
are  there  in  store  for  God's  crowned  kings  in  the  day  of 
Christ's  coming. 

Neglect  of  the  Scriptures  is  in  a  sense  a  sin  that  hath  no 
forgiveness ;  for  it  implies  irreparable  damage  to  spiritual 
life  and  forfeiture  of  spiritual  blessing.  No  repentance 
and  reformation  can  ever  restore  the  years  which  this  can- 


BIBLE  SCHOOLS,  AND  CONVENTIONS  153 

kerworm  of  indifference  to  the  Word  of  God  has  eaten. 
What  an  insult  to  the  royal  Author,  who  puts  in  our  hand 
the  key  to  His  treasure  chambers !  What  a  sign  of  apathy 
and  lethargy  of  soul,  when  the  carnal  ambition  to  be  wise 
and  great,  and  move  in  the  society  of  the  wise  and  great, 
actuates  us  more  than  the  aspiration  to  be  wise  and  great 
in  God's  eyes,  and  abide  in  His  companionship !  Do  Bible 
possessors  realize  that  they  have  a  chance  to  enjoy  a  uni- 
versity education  in  the  school  of  God?  That  the  Word 
of  God  is  itself  life  and  light,  a  passport  to  heavenly  soci- 
ety, free  to  all  alike,  as  children  of  the  King? 

Believing  and  perceiving,  as  we  do,  that  God  has  been 
by  various  voices  calling  His  people  to  a  new  life  of  holy 
living  and  serving,  it  would  be  natural  to  expect  that 
Bible  study  would  form  an  inseparable  condition  of  such 
advance.  And  what  is  more  conspicuous  than  the  fact 
that  during  the  last  half  century  the  facilities  for  such 
search  into  the  King's  treasuries  have  been  indefinitely 
multiplied,  so  that  every  man  and  woman  may  now  possess 
a  first-class  copy  of  the  Word,  with  the  best  helps,  bound 
in  the  one  cover,  and  all  the  material  so  well  put  together 
as  to  last  with  ordinary  care  for  a  lifetime. 

If  the  facilities  for  Bible  study  have  so  increased,  Bible 
study  itself  has  kept  pace  with  them,  for  never  were  there 
so  many  careful  and  habitual  searchers  into  the  Word  of 
God,  nor  so  many  new  methods  of  helpful  study.  That 
devout  and  lamented  Irishman,  Harry  Morehouse,  first 
introduced  into  America,  "  Bible  Readings  " — a  new  way 
of  comparing  Scripture  with  Scripture — when  he  distrib- 
uted little  slips  of  paper,  each  containing  a  text,  illustrative 
of  some  great  theme,  like  "  Forgiveness,"  "  Salvation," 
"  Grace,"  "  Eternal  Life ;  "  and  then,  calling  for  the  read- 
ing of  them  in  succession,  with  a  few  words  interposed 
as  explanatory,  or  connecting  links,  the  subject  grew  be- 
fore the  assembled  company  as  a  building  rises  from  cor- 


154  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

nerstone  to  capstone,  till  the  climax  of  impression  was 
reached. 

This  and  a  multitude  of  other  methods  have  brought 
the  Bible  itself  to  the  front,  as  never  before.  And,  tho 
some  so-called  Bible  readings  have  been  travesties,  evin- 
cing no  thorough  search,  and  attracting  derision  as  exam- 
ples of  "  grasshopper  exegesis  "  or  "  kangaroo  exegesis," 
from  the  monstrous  leaps  taken  without  regard  to  contex- 
tual difficulties,  grand  advance  is  due  to  these  methods  in 
promoting  acquaintance  with  God's  book.  We  thank 
Him  for  the  Bible  in  a  portable  form;  for  the  era  of  the 
Bagster  and  Oxford  presses ;  for  the  Sunday-school  lessons^ 
and  the  varied  expositions  of  them;  for  the  Bible-schools 
and  conventions — and  scores  of  other  means  whereby  the 
great  mass  of  believers,  rich  and  poor,  learned  and  igno- 
rant, old  and  young,  may  be  henceforth  without  excuse  if 
they  do  not  know  what  rich  mines  of  wealth  are  in  the 
blessed  Word,  waiting  to  be  dug  into  and  explored. 

For  a  number  of  years  now  there  have  been  held,  espe- 
cially in  summer,  Bible-schools,  or  conferences,  for  the 
study  of  Scripture  with  the  best  aid  that  man  can  supply. 
The  conference  at  Northfield,  Mass.,  now  so  famous,  and 
linked  with  that  lover  of  Scripture,  Dwight  L.  Moody,  is 
perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  of  all ;  but  that  smaller  con- 
ference known  as  the  Niagara  Conference,  attended  by 
about  300  believers,  is  perhaps  second  in  spiritual  power 
to  no  other,  and  is  exclusively  for  biblical  study  and 
prayer.  At  the  "  Thousand  Islands,"  "  Geneva  Lake," 
"  Round  Lake,"  "  De  Funiak  Springs,"  etc.,  similar 
schools  are  held — indeed,  the  number  is  too  large  to  enu- 
merate them.  It  will  suffice  to  call  attention  to  the  one  first 
mentioned,  as  an  example. 

Every  place  has  its  atmosphere.  Better  sanitary  condi- 
tions insure  a  delicious  fragrance  in  place  of  unsavory 
odors,  and  healthful  inspirations  instead  of  malarial  ex- 


BIBLE  SCHOOLS,  AND  CONVENTIONS   155 

halations.  In  the  higher  realm  of  mind,  intellectually  and 
socially,  morally  and  spiritually,  every  community  has  its 
atmosphere,  and  what  is  more  needful  than  to  improve  the 
conditions  on  which  depend  a  purer,  holier  influence  ? 

Northfield,  Mass.,  has  become  known  as  the  *'  Home  of 
Conventions,"  a  New,  England  Jerusalem,  whither  the 
tribes  of  the  Lord  go  up  annually,  to  keep  solemn  feasts 
and  joyful  festivals.  There  is  literally  a  yearly  Feast  of 
Tabernacles — for  many  are  compelled  to  dwell  in  tents 
if  not  in  booths ;  and  a  feast  of  Pentecost — for  hundreds 
get  a  blessing  from  above. 

These  conferences  originated  with  Mr.  Moody,  who 
loved  Northfield  as  his  birthplace  and  home.  His  later 
career  as  an  evangelist  was  conspicuous  for  quickening 
disciples  as  well  as  for  arousing  and  converting  sinners. 
As  he  went  from  place  to  place,  he  found  many  believers 
anxiously  longing  for  a  fuller  salvation,  a  higher  knowl- 
edge of  God's  Word,  a  deeper  draught  of  the  fullness  of 
the  Spirit ;  and  it  occurred  to  him  to  call  together  at  North- 
field,  for  a  few  weeks,  such  as  yearned  for  closer  fellow- 
ship with  God,  and  greater  power  in  service.  Now  that 
such  convocations  have  a  world-wide  reputation  and  in- 
fluence, we  gather  up  some  historic  fragments  and  give 
them  a  permanent  form. 

The  August  Conference  of  1900  was  the  eighteenth  of 
its  kind.  The  first  was  in  1880,  and  the  second  in  1881 ; 
then,  Mr.  Moody's  campaigns  in  Great  Britain  caused 
an  interval  of  three  years ;  but  since  1885  they  have  been 
annual. 

In  1880  the  call  was  mainly  for  "  k  convocation  for 
PRAYER."     It  read  thus: 

"  Feeling  deeply  this  great  need,  and  believing  that  it  Is  in 
reserve  for  all  who  honestly  seek  it,  a  gathering  is  hereby  called 
to  meet  in  Northfield,  Mass.,  from  Sept.  ist  to  loth  inclusive,  the 
object  of  which  is  not  so  much  to  study  the  Bible  (tho  the  Scrip- 


156  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

tures  will  be  searched  daily  for  instruction  and  promises),  as  for 
solemn  self-consecration,  and  to  plead  God's  promises,  and  to 
wait  upon  Him  for  a  fresh  anointing  of  power  from  on  high. 

"  Not  a  few  of  God's  chosen  servants  from  our  own  land  and 
from  over  the  sea  will  be  present  to  join  with  us  in  prayer  and 
counsel. 

"  All  ministers  and  laymen,  and  those  women  who  are  fellow- 
helpers  and  laborers  together  with  us  in  the  kingdom  and  patience 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ — and,  indeed,  all  Christians  who  are 
hungering  for  intimate  fellowship  with  God  and  for  power  to  do 
His  work — are  most  cordially  invited  to  assemble  with  us. 

"  It  is  also  hoped  that  those  Christians  whose  hearts  are 
united  with  us  in  desire  for  this  new  enduement  of  power,  but 
who  can  not  be  present  in  the  body,  will  send  us  salutation  and 
greeting  by  letter,  that  there  may  be  concert  of  prayer  with  them 
throughout  the  land  during  these  days  of  waiting." 

This  conference  in  September,  1880,  was  attended  by 
some  three  hundred  persons,  among  whom  was  a  delega- 
tion from  Britain.  East  Hall,  being  then  built,  served  in 
part  to  lodge  visitors,  but  tents,  garrets, — every  available 
place — was  in  requisition,  and  the  quiet  village  waked  up 
to  a  new  sensation — the  dawn  of  a  new  era.  The  Con- 
gregational church  was  scarce  large  enough  for  a  meeting 
place,  and  a  large  tent  became  needful.  The  predominant 
idea  of  that  first  conference  was  Spiritual  Power;  the 
doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  dwelt  upon,  and  prayer 
pervaded  the  meetings  for  a  new  effusion  of  power.  Mr. 
Moody  presided;  and  the  meetings,  devotional  and  heart- 
searching,  left  a  deep  and  permanent  impression. 

The  convention  of  1881  occupied  the  whole  of  August. 
The  conspicuous  figure  was  Dr.  Andrew  A.  Bonar,  of 
Glasgow,  whose  accuracy,  precision,  unction,  can  never 
be  forgotten.  He  combined  deep  insight  into  truth  with 
characteristic  quaintness  of  manner  and  a  strongly  marked 
individuality;  and,  besides  Mr.  Moody,  Dr.  Pentecost,  A. 
J.  Gordon,  J.  H.  Brookes,  E.  P.  Goodwin,  Evangelists 
Whittle,  Needham,  and  Hammond,  and  Editors  R.  C. 


BIBLE  SCHOOLS,  AND  COl4/fe1C^¥i5¥^'^l] 

Morgan  and  H.  L.  Wayland,  were  among^liL ■  JpLJlkers. 
The  leading  feature  was  Bible  Study.  Every  afternoon 
in  the  Congregational  church  one  leading  address,  fol- 
lowed by  briefer  ones,  treated  in  a  somewhat  connected 
presentation  leading  Christian  doctrines.  Morning  and 
evening  worship,  and  various  side  meetings  of  a  devo- 
tional character,  filled  up  the  time.  In  the  course  of  the 
month  from  eight  hundred  to  nine  hundred  persons  were  in 
attendance.  The  school  buildings,  and  every  house  that 
had  spare  rooms,  was  full,  and  a  large  delegation  was 
present  from  across  the  sea. 

The  convention  of  1885  occupied  ten  days  in  August. 
Perhaps  the  prominent  figure  in  this  gathering  was  J.  E. 
K.  Studd,  Esq.,  of  London,  who  told  the  story  of  the 
movement  among  the  English  university  students,  and  of 
the  Cambridge  band  who  went  to  China,  among  whom 
were  Mr.  Charles  T.  Studd  and  Mr.  Stanley  Smith. 
From  Northfield  Mr.  Studd  went  to  visit  American  col- 
leges and  carry  the  sacred  coals.  Two  famous  temper- 
ance reformers  were  heard  that  summer,  William  Noble^ 
of  London,  and  John  B.  Gough.  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon  spoke 
with  great  power  on  "  Christian  Life,"  and  Dr.  L.  W. 
Munhall,  Rev.  W.  W.  Clark,  and  the  writer,  gave  aid. 
"  Marquand  "  and  "  Stone  "  halls  being  now  built,  became 
temporary  hotels,  the  latter  supplying  the  main  auditor- 
ium, a  tent  near  the  road  serving  for  additional  and  oc- 
casional gatherings.  The  predominant  idea  of  this  con- 
vention was  Life  and  Service.  Great  prominence  was 
given  to  foreign  missions,  and  the  interest  culminated  in 
a  "  call  "  issued  by  the  convention,  and  signed  by  repre- 
sentatives of  each  Christian  denomination,  summoning  a 
World's  Conference  on  Missions,  which  call  was  one  of 
the  first  steps  which  led  to  the  great  World's  Conference 
of  1888,  in  Exeter  Hall,  London. 

In  the  1886  convocation.  Rev.  Marcus  Rainsford,  of 


158  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

London,  was  conspicuous.  His  unfoldings  of  Bible  truth 
were  remarkable,  but  scarcely  more  so  than  the  narratives 
by  which  they  were  illumined,  drawn  from  his  pastoral 
life.  Drs.  Nathaniel  West,  W.  J.  Erdman,  H.  M.  Par- 
sons, and  Mr.  William  E.  Blackstone  were  heard,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  neighing  of  the  usual  ''  war  horses."  Per- 
haps the  prominent  idea  of  this  convention  was  Dispensa- 
tional  Truth,  especially  the  Lord's  Second  Coming. 

This  year  was  marked  also  by  a  convention — the  first 
of  its  sort — of  college  representatives  of  the  International 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  held  at  Mount  Hermon,  Mass.,  in  the  boys' 
school  buildings,  beginning  July  7th,  and  continuing  for 
twenty-six  days.  It  owed  its  origin  to  a  suggestion  of 
Mr.  L.  D.  Wishard,  that  these  students  should  be  called 
together  for  "  a  summer  school  of  Bible  Study."  Invita- 
tions were  sent  to  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  college 
associations,  and  a  total  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
students  responded,  representing  ninety  institutions.  Mr. 
Moody  and  Major  Whittle,  Drs.  Gordon,  Brookes,  West, 
Prof.  W.  G.  Moorehead,  Rev.  W.  Walton  Clark,  and  A. 
T.  Pierson,  with  Messrs.  Wishard  and  C.  K.  Ober,  ad- 
dressed and  taught  the  students.  The  first  morning  hours 
were  given  to  "  Association  work ;  "  from  10  to  12,  to  sys- 
tematic teaching  on  Christian  Evidences,  Prophecy,  Bible 
Analysis,  etc.  If  any  one  idea  was  pre-eminent,  it  was 
God's  Word  and  Work.  Great  Missionary  meetings  were 
held,  at  one  of  which  ten  young  men,  representing  as  many 
different  peoples, — Siam,  China,  India,  Persia,  Armenia, 
Japan,  Norway,  Denmark,  Germany,  and  the  Indians  of 
America, — made  short  addresses,  and,  at  the  close,  re- 
peated, in  their  various  tongues,  '"  God  is  Love."  It  was 
like  a  new  Pentecost,  and  proved  the  source  of  one  of  the 
greatest  movements  of  our  day.  Some  twenty-three  had 
come  to  Mount  Hermon  pledged  to  the  foreign  field — the 
number  rose  to  a  full  hundred  before  the  students  dis- 


BIBLE  SCHOOLS,  AND'  CONVENTIONS   159 

persed,  and  so  hot  did  the  missionary  fires  burn  that 
two  of  their  number  were  sent  on  a  visiting  campaign 
through  the  colleges.  This  was  the  origin  of  "  The  New 
Crusade,"  whose  motto  is  "  The  Evangelization  of  the 
World  in  this  Generation."* 

Two  annual  conventions  were  henceforth  to  move  side 
by  side.  The  year  1887  saw  four  hundred  delegates,  from 
some  eighty-two  colleges,  assembled  at  Northfield  from 
July  3  to  12.  Perhaps  the  conspicuous  personality  was 
the  late  Prof.  Henry  Drummond,  who  then  first  spoke  in 
America.  Beside  Drs.  Gordon,  Pierson,  etc.^  Profs.  John 
A.  Broadus  and  L.  T.  Townsend,  Rev.  Jos.  Cook  and  H. 
L.  Hastings,  and  Dr.  Jacob  Chamberlain,  of  India,  spoke. 
If  any  one  thought  ruled  this  convention,  it  was  Prepara- 
tion for  Service. 

The  August  convention  of  1887,  which  surpassed  all 
that  preceded,  held  up  a  High  Ideal  of  Character.  Prof. 
Drummond,  Prof.  W.  H.  Green,  of  Princeton,  Dr.  Josiah 
Strong,  author  of  *'  Our  Country,"  Francis  Murphy,  the 
temperance  agitator,  as  well  as  Drs.  Gordon,  Pierson, 
Pentecost,  and  Clark,  were  among  the  speakers. 

The  students'  conference  of  1888  reached  again  four 
hundred,  from  ninety  institutions;  twelve  delegates  were 
from  Europe,  representing  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  Edin- 
burgh, and  Utrecht.  Dr.  Broadus  again  taught,  as  did 
Dr.  H.  Clay  Trumbull,  Bishop  Hendricks,  Dr.  Alex.  Mac- 
Keiizie,  and  Prof.  W.  R.  Harper ;  Rev.  Geo.  W.  Chamber- 
lain, of  Brazil,  Messrs.  Wilder  and  Forman  and  Rev.  J. 
Hudson  Taylor  fanned  the  missionary  fires. 

The  August  convocation  of  the  same  year  magnified 
Spiritual  power.  More  foreign  missionaries  than  at  any 
previous  gathering  were  there,  and  J.  Hudson  Taylor's 
deeply  spiritual  addresses  swayed  the  great  throng. 

•  This  motto  was  suggested  by  the  writer,  who  has  often  been  asked  where 
he  himself  found  it.  Any  one  who  will  carefully  examine  Acts,  xiii  :  32  and 
36,  will  find  its  suggestion  there. 


i6o  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

In  the  convention  of  1889,  among  the  new  features  were 
the  addresses  of  Rev.  I.  D.  Driver,  from  Portland,  Oregon, 
a  vigorous,  forcible,  original  speaker,  and  of  Bishops  M. 
E.  Baldwin,  of  Huron,  and  Cyrus  D.  Foss;  Robert  E. 
Speer,  John  G.  Woolley,  the  temperance  orator,  and  Pastor 
Charles  Spurgeon,  son  of  the  metropolitan  preacher,  also 
gave  addresses.  Four  hundred  and  seventy-three  stu- 
dents were  present  at  the  college  gathering,  and  fully  the 
usual  attendance  was  observed  at  the  later  conference. 

In  1890,  three  hundred  and  eighty  students  appeared 
from  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  institutions.  Prof.  W. 
W.  Moore,  Pastor  Adolph  Monod,  of  Paris,  Rev.  H.  G. 
Mowll,  of  London,  Bishop  Thoburn,  of  India,  Rev.  W.  P. 
Prague,  of  China,  Dr.  R.  S.  MacArthur,  of  New  York, 
and  Dr.  Charles  Parkhurst  will  be  remembered  in  connec- 
tion with  this  gathering. 

At  the  August  conference  the  central  thought  was 
Christ,  Consecration,  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  again  Rev.  Mar- 
cus Rainsford  gave  grand  help,  and  David  Baron,  a  true 
prince  of  the  house  of  David,  opened  up  the  Messianic 
prophecies,  as  only  a  converted  Jew  could. 

In  1 89 1  four  hundred  students  again  gathered,  and  Rev. 
John  Smith,  of  Edinburgh,  and  John  McNeill,  the  Scottish 
Spurgeon,  were  among  the  speakers. 

In  August,  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  of  London,  made  as  deep 
an  impression  as  any  man  who  had  ever  spoken  there. 
He  struck  the  keynote.  Holiness,  which  was  maintained 
throughout.  Dr.  Edward  Judson,  Dr.  J.  E.  Clough,  of 
the  Telugu  station  in  India,  Dr.  J.  R.  Hykes,  of  China, 
Dr.  H.  C.  Mabie,  and  Dr.  Eddy,  of  Syria,  all  spoke. 

In  1892  Mr.  Moody  was  in  Britain,  but  Dr.  A.  J.  Gor- 
don proved  equal  to  the  emergency  and  nobly  led  the  Au- 
gust convention,  at  which  Dr.  J.  T.  Gracey,  Dr.  J.  L. 
Nevius,  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell,  and  Dr.  S.  L.  Baldwin  spoke 


BIBLE  SCHOOLS,  AND  CONVENTIONS   i6i 

on  missions.  Mr.  J.  R.  Mott  guided  the  students'  con- 
ference. 

In  1893  Mr.  Moody  was  again  absent,  during  a  part  of 
the  time,  engaged  in  work  in  Chicago  during  the  World's 
Fair,  but  Dr.  Gordon  once  more  took  his  place.  Dr.  Geo. 
E.  Post,  W.  M.  Upcraft,  Dr.  Lyman  Jewett,  and  Dr.  A. 
C.  Dixon  were  among  the  speakers.  This  year  inaugu- 
rated the  young  women's  conferences — over  two  hundred 
college  women  being  present  from  thirty-one  educational 
institutions,  societies,  and  associations.  They  came  to 
study  the  Word  of  Life  as  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  to 
confer  as  to  practical  Christian  work.  This  year,  there- 
fore, a  third  annual  conference  took  its  place  beside  the 
other  two. 

These  conferences  have  gone  on  from  year  to  year,  each 
new  series  of  conferences  presenting  one  or  more  unique 
features.  The  group  of  teachers  from  America  and  Britain 
that  have  been  on  the  platform  at  Northfield  would  prob- 
ably find  no  equal  for  variety  of  ability,  and  teaching  power 
on  the  platform  of  any  other  annual  conference.  Kes- 
wick alone  would  suggest  a  comparison,  but  the  platform 
of  Keswick  conferences  is  purposely  restricted  to  those 
who  by  their  doctrinal  teaching  and  practical  experience 
are  identified  with  that  particular  movement.  Mr. 
Moody's  effort  at  Northfield  was  to  secure  any  man  from 
any  quarter  that  could  speak  to  edification,  and  some  men 
were  invited  who  would  not  be  regarded  by  all  evangelical 
believers  as  perfectly  safe  teachers,  and  whose  presence 
on  the  conference  platform  created  no  little  opposition. 
The  fact  is  Northfield  does  not  stand  for  any  distinct  form 
of  belief  or  practice,  provided  there  be  a  general  acquies- 
cence in  what  is  known  as  Bible  truth.  There  has  been 
some  teaching  there  not  often  surpassed,  as  when  Rev. 
Webb  Peploe  and  Rev.  Andrew  Murray,  Rev.  G.  H.  C. 


1 62  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Macgregor  and  Campbell  Morgan  led  the  conferences. 
And  now  that  Mr.  Moody  is  no  more,  the  question  arises, 
will  the  conventions  go  on  without  their  great  originator 
and  conductor,  and  will  any  one  be  found  qualified  to  give 
them  the  hold  they  had  in  Mr.  Moody's  day  on  the  popu- 
lar mind  and  heart ;  for  there  is  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Moody's 
personality  was  the  center  of  attraction  after  all. 

As  we  review  the  history  of  these  twenty  years,  a  few 
general  facts  seem  essential  to  the  full  annals  we  now 
record. 

First,  the  original  purpose  of  these  conventions  has  been 
permanently  controlling.  Bible  study,  mutiml  conference, 
devout  praying,  waiting  for  enduement,  have  been  the  con- 
spicuous features ;  and,  of  late  years,  there  has  been  much 
comparison  of  methods  of  Christian  work.  As  the  conven- 
tions have  multiplied,  and  their  influence  has  been  en- 
larged, this  little  New  England  village  has  been  taxed 
to  its  utmost  to  lodge  and  feed  the  gathering  throngs,  and 
in  view  of  the  large  inflow  of  guests,  addresses  and  Bible 
readings  fill  up  the  intervals  between  the  convocations. 
As  early. as  the  first  of  May,  parties  seeking  accommoda- 
tions can  with  difficulty  obtain  them,  tho  the  accommoda- 
tions are  at  least  fivefold  what  they  were  when  that  first 
assembly  was  convened  in  1880! 

This  "  Saints'  Rest,"  which  unites  many  charms  of 
Keswick,  Mildmay,  and  Exeter  Hall,  affords  a  rare  op- 
portunity to  see,  hear,  and  come  in  contact  with  some  of 
the  men  and  women  of  the  church  universal,  who,  like 
John  the  Baptist,  are  "  great  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord." 
Taking  the  whole  list  of  speakers  since  1880,  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  an  equally  varied  and  illustrious  group- 
ing of  ministers  and  evangelists,  theological  professors 
and  college  presidents,  bishops  and  benefactors  of  hu- 
manity, foreign  missionaries  and  home  workers,  has  been 
found  on  any  other  convention  platform. 


BIBLE  SCHOOLS,  AND  CONVENTIONS  163 

Noble  free-will  offerings  have  here  been  made  from  a 
few  hundred  dollars  up  to  three  thousand,  which  on  two 
occasions  was  given  to  Bishop  Thoburn's  work  in  India, 
and  ten  thousand  for  the  evangelization  work  in  Chicago, 
and  toward  fifty  thousand  for  the  new  auditorium  opened 
in  1894,  and  holding  twenty-five  hundred  persons. 

We  have  given  the  Northfield  Conventions  prominence 
merely  as  a  type  of  similar  gatherings.  The  original  pur- 
pose of  them  has  somewhat  expanded,  until  Northfield 
now  stands  for  a  sort  of  Ecumenical  Council,  annually 
meeting  to  consider  the  truths  of  the  word  and  the  claims 
of  the  work  of  God.  Perhaps  its  present  keynote  is  full 
as  much  aggressive  activity  for  Christ,  as  anything;  but 
this  is  largely  owing  to  the  strong  personality  of  Mr. 
Moody  himself,  who  was  a  born  leader  in  active  evangel- 
ism. 

What  grand  occasions  are  these  Bible  Conventions  for 
stimulating  all  that  is  good  in  thought,  in  love,  in  life-giv- 
ing aims!  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  perceiving  that  Daniel 
Webster,  while  speaking  in  Faneuil  Hall,  had  lost  the 
thread  of  his  thought  and  broken  the  continuity  of  his  ut- 
terance, sagaciously  asked  him  a  question,  which  touched 
the  very  quick  of  his  being  and  at  once  roused  to  their 
full  exercise  all  his  giant  powers.  In  such  gatherings, 
somehow,  a  new  impulse  is  constantly  furnished,  rousing 
to  fullest  exercise  and  exertion  all  the  best  that  there  is  in 
the  hearers;  so  that  for  the  sake  of  such  living  impulses 
to  new  consecration  and  activity,  such  new  inspiration  in 
Bible  study  and  incentive  to  prayer,  many  go  far,  and  stay 
long,  at  no  little  cost.  They  feel  as  J.  Lothrop  Motley 
did,  in  college,  that  they  can  spare  the  "  necessities  of  life, 
but  not  its  luxuries."  Here  is  illustrated  Arthur  Hal- 
lam^s  famous  aphorism,  that  the  "  Bible  is  God's  book  be- 
cause it  is  man's  book,  fitting  at  every  turn  and  curve 
the  windings  of  the  human  heart ;  "  and  many  there  are 


1 64  P^ORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

who  at  Northfield  and  Keswick  have  learned  so  to  love 
this  Word,  that  they  feel  toward  it  some  such  devotion  as 
Michael  Angelo  did  for  the  famous  Torso  of  Hercules, 
when  he  not  only  went  to  the  Vatican  museum  to  sketch 
it  from  every  point  of  view,  but,  when  sight  failed,  begged 
to  be  led  where  through  the  touch  of  his  fingers  he  might 
experience  delight  in  contact  with  its  symmetry. 

Here  believers  get  into  touch  with  the  men  and  women 
who  move  the  world,  and  with  God's  Holy  ones,  some  of 
whom  are  like  Burke,  whom  you  could  not  have  met  un- 
der a  porch,  while  waiting  for  a  shower  to  pass  by,  with- 
out the  conviction  that  you  had  met  an  extraordinary 
person. 

The  visits  of  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  and  notably  of  Preben- 
dary H.  W.  Webb-Peploe^  of  London,  and  Andrew  Mur- 
ray, of  Wellington,  S.  Africa  (who  were  at  Northfield 
in  1895),  and  the  late  G.  H.  C.  McGregor  introduced 
into  Northfield  conferences  the  grand  teaching  of  Kes- 
wick. Indeed,  since  their  visit  it  has  been  felt  that 
what  America  m.ost  needs  now  is  an  annual  gath- 
ering where  the  specific  truths,  so  magnified  in  the  Eng- 
lish Lake  district,  and  so  blessed  to  thousands  of  believers, 
shall  receive  prayerful  attention.  During  the  visit  of 
Messrs.  Murray  and  Webb-Peploe,  the  truth  already 
taught  in  part  by  Mr.  Meyer  was  so  expressed,  impressed, 
illustrated  and  enforced,  tjiat  impressions  were  made 
which  never  can  be  forgotten;  but,  what  is  of  far  more 
consequence,  believers  actually  did  so  appropriate  divine 
promises  as  to  enter  upon  a  new  career  of  victory  over 
sin  and  rest  life  by  faith.  The  Jordan  of  a  new  Consecra- 
tion was  crossed,  and  the  Land  of  Promise  entered.  "  Kes- 
wick "  is  having  its  "  clouds  of  witnesses  "  now  in  Amer- 
ica also. 

The  Niagara  Conference  holds  tenaciously  to  the  study 
of  th^  Word,  and  prayer,  and  there  is  felt  to  be  a  certain 


BIBLE  SCHOOLS,  AND  CONVENTIONS   165 

advantage  in  the  restriction  and  limitation  of  its  purpose. 
There  is  no  encouragement  given  to  those  who  have  a 
"  speech  "  to  make  or  a  "  cause  "  to  present,  and  who  are 
sometimes  the  bane  of  spiritual  gatherings. 

Pastor  Archibald  G.  Brown,  lately  visiting  Boston,  was 
asked  to  give  some  account  of  his  work  in  London,  and 
his  narrative  was  thrilling.  He  attributed  any  success  he 
had  then  enjoyed  to  two  things :  dependence  on  the  Word 
and  the  Spirit  of  God;  on  Sunday  mornings  he  gave  a 
Bible  reading,  and  on  Sunday  evenings,  a  simple  Gospel 
sermon,  and  yet  he  baptized  6,cx)0  believers  in  thirty 
years!  There  were  no  meretricious  attractions  of  art, 
music,  sensational  oratory,  or  secular  festivity.  Pastor 
Brown  might  have  added,  if  his  modesty  had  not  forbid- 
den, that  through  the  East  London  Tabernacle,  thus  edu- 
cated and  edified  by  Bible  teaching,  a  work  was  done  for 
London  and  for  far  off  lands,  that  any  congregation 
might  envy. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
woman's  work  at  home  and  abroad 

The  "  Diamond  Jubilee "  of  the  accession  of  Queen 
Victoria  naturally  suggested  the  marvelous  development 
of  Christian  womanhood  during  the  half  century  in  all  the 
manifold  forms  and  phases  of  missionary  and  philan- 
thropic activity.  Among  all  the  achievements  of  the 
Victorian  era,  none  is  perhaps  more  conspicuous  than 
what  may  be  called  The  Epiphany  of  Women — /'.  e.,  her 
emergence  out  of  the  obscurity  of  centuries  into  some- 
thing like  her  true  position  and  relation  as  to  the  work  of 
God.  It  is  also  a  curious  coincidence  that  such  emergence 
should  so  exactly  correspond  with  the  period  during  which 
a  woman  has  occupied  the  throne  of  the  most  prominent 
of  Protestant  kingdoms,  and,  during  sixty  years — ^the 
longest  reign  of  a  zvoman  on  record — has  challenged  ad- 
miration by  her  unblemished  personal  character  and  Chris- 
tian influence!  Victoria  may  well  stand  as  the  historic 
type  of  the  era  of  woman's  development  as  a  distinct  and 
separate  factor  in  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

In  the  Old  Testament  seven  women  stand  out  with 
singular  and  unique  distinctness,  namely.  Eve,  the  uni- 
versal mother ;  Sarah,  the  mother  of  the  faithful ;  Miriam, 
the  minstrel  prophetess;  Deborah,  the  ruler  and  judge; 
Esther,  the  interceding  Persian  Queen;  the  Queen  of 
Sheba,  and  the  Queen  of  Massa  who  seems  to  have  been 
the  mother  of  Agur  and  Lemuel  whose  wise  words  are 
the  fruit  of  her  teaching  (Prov.  xxx,  xxxi).  These  seven 
women  seem  typical  of  the  new  era  which  Christianity  was 

i66 


WOMAN'S  WORK  167 

to  inaugurate,  when  womanhood  was  to  be  associated  with 
holy  minstrelsy  and  teaching,  with  Christian  government 
and  counsel,  with  consecrated  courage  and  intercession  in 
critical  emergencies,  with  adoring  gifts  to  the  King  of 
Kings,  and  with  the  imperial  power  of  home  influence 
whereby  to  train  a  household  of  princely  characters  to 
wield  the  scepter  of  social  life. 

Surely,  among  the  most  remarkable  movements,  guided 
by  God's  hand,  in  our  times,  has  been  this  singular  and 
steady  forward  march  of  Christian  womanhood  towards 
the  front  rank  of  consecrated  service.  While  God  was 
opening  new  doors  and  removing  old  barriers  to  heathen 
peoples.  He  was  preparing  new  workers  and  agencies  to 
enter  the  doors  and  occupy  the  accessible  fields.  The  story 
of  the  organization  of  women,  in  boards  of  missions, 
especially  in  zenana  work;  and  of  their  entrance  upon 
every  other  form  of  Christian  service,  to  promote  total 
abstinence,  social  purity,  systematic  giving  and  united 
prayer,  to  disseminate  intelligence  and  educate  a  new  gen- 
eration of  givers  and  workers, — this  is  one  of  the  greatest 
of  the  modern  chapters  in  the  new  acts  of  the  apostles. 
The  importance  and  significance  of  this  series  of  develop- 
ments, and  the  obvious  leadership  of  a  divine  hand  in 
them  all,  entitle  them  to  a  special  and  permanent  memorial 
among  the  marked  spiritual  movements  of  our  time. 

We  must  go  back  to  the  beginning.  It  is  sixty-six 
years  ago  since  David  Abeel,  returning  from  China,  told 
the  women  of  Britain  about  the  women  of  the  far  East, 
who,  shut  up  in  zenanas,  harems,  seraglios,  were  inac- 
cessible to  all  holy  influences,  unless  their  own  sex  could 
be  induced  to  undertake  work  in  their  behalf.  That  mov- 
ing, melting  plea  was  the  parent  of  zenana  missions, 
which  marvelously  synchronize  with  the  accession  of  this 
Christian  Queen  to  the  British  throne !  At  the  very  time 
when  God  was  lifting  to  the  seat  of  an  empire  that  reaches 


i68  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

round  the  world,  a  young  Christian  woman,  He  was  re- 
veaHng  to  woman  throughout  the  world  the  throne  of  her 
predestined  influence,  and  putting  in  her  hands  a  hitherto 
undreamed  of  scepter  of  imperial  power!  The  Vic- 
torian era  is  woman's  era.  When  Victoria  was  crowned, 
the  diadem  was  placed  upon  the  head  of  her  sex,  and 
woman's  true  epoch  began,  as  we  behold  it  in  our  day. 
We  can  do  no  more  than  briefly  trace  the  outlines  in  this 
sixty-year  history. 

The  project  of  carrying  the  Gospel  to  women  in  their 
oriental  seclusion  and  exclusion,  seemed  at  first  the  wild 
visionary  scheme  of  unbalanced  enthusiasts ;  and  wise  men 
and  even  sagacious  women  shook  their  heads  in  doubt^  if 
not  derision.  How  impracticable,  nay,  how  impossible! 
It  was  like  forcing  gates  of  steel  in  walls  of  stone,  to  seek 
to  get  access  to  the  harems  of  Turkey  and  the  zenanas 
of  India.  But  something  must  be  done.  The  condition  of 
womankind  in  the  East  was  so  destitute  and  desolate  that 
it  had  long  drawn  toward  the  wives,  mothers,  daughters 
of  the  Orient  the  attention  and  sympathy  of  the  whole 
civilized  world.  And  there  seemed  to  be  neither  hope  nor 
help  for  woman,  unless  it  should  come  through  woman 
herself.  No  activity  or  generosity  in  sending  and  support- 
ing male  missionaries  would  solve  the  problem;  for  no 
man  could  without  risk  to  life  enter  these  sealed  doors 
even  in  the  capacity  of  a  physician.  Such  facts  seemed 
to  compel  zaoman's  ministry.  God  was  saying  to  woman 
as  from  heaven :  "  Thou  art  come  to  the  Kingdom  for  such 
a  time  as  this ;  "  and  to  those  who  had  ears  to  hear  and 
heart  to  heed,  there  seemed  no  alternative.  Christian 
women  must  undertake  the  work  of  carrying  the  Gospel 
within  zenana  gates. 

The  facts  are  appalling.  In  India  alone  it  is  estimated 
that  there  are  one  hundred  and  forty  millions  of  women 
and  girls.    These  were  found  sunk  in  such  depths  of  de- 


WOMAN'S  WORK  169 

graded  ignorance,  that  one-third  of  them  could  neither 
read  nor  write;  one-tenth  of  them  were  widows,  and  of 
these  widows  fourteen  thousand  were  under  four  years 
of  age,  twenty-two  thousand  were  under  ten,  and  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  under  fourteen. 
Think  of  such  a  host  of  women,  twelve  million  of  girls 
under  fourteen,  and  half  of  them  wives!  and  all  of  them 
absolutely  unreached  and  unreachable  by  any  existing  in- 
fluence that  could  elevate,  educate,  or  evangelize  them! 
What  words  could  fitly  portray  so  low  an  estate  for  nearly 
half  the  population  of  oriental  empires ! 

The  work  was  undertaken,  at  first,  by  British  women. 
Reason  opposed,  but  faith  proposed  and  disposed.  It  is 
an  old  familiar,  pathetic  story,  how  in  the  days  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Thomas  Smith,  then  of  Rev.  John  Fordyce  and  Alex- 
ander Duff,  the  first  systematic  efforts  were  made  to  get 
access  to  the  zenanas  of  India.  *  Then  the  deft  needle  of 
a  missionary's  wife,  Mrs.  Mullens,  was  used  further  to 
unlock  the  doors.  A  simple  piece  of  embroidery,  wrought 
by  her  skillful  fingers,  attracted  the  attention  of  the  se- 
cluded inmates  of  one  of  these  household  prisons;  they 
argued,  that  if  a  woman  could  do  such  work  as  that, 

*  This  history  has  been  carefully  outlined  elsewhere  ("  Crisis  of  Missions," 
Chap.  XIX,  "  New  Acts  of  Apostles,"  Part  II.,  Chap.  3)  but  we  here  rehearse 
the  main  facts.  Rev.  Dr.  Thos.  Smith,  March  1840,  urged  on  the  Calcutta 
Missionary  Observer^  the  question  of  zenana  teaching.  But  it  was  fifteen 
years  later  before  his  sensible  plans  took  such  root  as  to  have  practical  and 
lasting  growth.  Rev.  Jno.  Fordyce  and  others  secured  the  services  of  two 
or  three  lady  visitors,  and  got  access  to  some  native  families.  Then  Mrs. 
Mullens,  Mrs.  Eliz.  Sale,  Miss  Briton  and  others  enlarged  the  work.  But 
in  1851  the  work  had  as  yet  no  importance  sufficient  to  give  it  any  statistics. 
In  1871,  twenty  years  after,  1,300  houses  were  found  to  be  under  visitation  and 
there  were  about  2,000  pupils,  and  twenty  years  later,  the  homes  found 
accessible  had  multiplied  more  than  thirtyfold,  to  over  40,500.  In  1896  the 
following  are  the  figures  for  the  work  outside  this  field  of  India, 

Foreign  and  European  female  teachers 7n 

Native  teachers 3,66x 

Day-schools 1,507 

Scholars 62,4x4 

See  Missionary  Review,  April  1897,  p.  273-279. 


170  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

other  women  might  learn  how.,  and  so,  with  the  cordial 
consent  of  the  lord  of  the  zenana,  this  Christian  woman 
was  welcomed  within  the  veiled  chamber,  and  encouraged 
to  teach  his  wives  the  woman's  art  of  embroidery;  and, 
as  she  wrought  on  a  pair  of  slippers  the  beautiful  pat- 
tern, she  was  quietly  working  into  the  very  fabric  of  their 
hearts  and  lives  scarlet  threads  dyed  in  the  bloody  and 
golden  threads  shining  with  the  glory  of  the  Lamb. 

It  is  a  poetic  and  pathetic  fact,  that,  under  the  gentle 
touch  of  a  woman's  hand,  the  long-locked  gates  have  been 
flung  wide  open,  and  the  barriers  of  ages  are  no  more! 
Christian  women  go,  almost  without  restraint,  sometimes 
with  urgent  entreaty,  into  the  homes  of  women  in  Turkey, 
Syria,  China,  India,  and  the  Orient  generally.  The  girls 
are  gathered  by  hundreds  of  thousands  into  Christian 
schools;  and  the  increase  in  the  number  of  female  pupils 
has  been  so  rapid,  that  it  doubled  in  ten  years  between 
1876  and  1886,  and  multiplied  much  more  rapidly  in  the 
next  decade.  As  long  ago  as  1884,  one  hundred  and  sixty 
women  missionaries  had  been  enrolled  in  the  work  of 
that  one  London  mission;  pupils  numbered  thousands 
within  the  zenanas,  and  tens  of  thousands  in  their  day- 
schools.  Ten  years  later,  Bible  women  entered  the  richest 
homes  freely,  and  Hindu  husbands  actually  clamored  to 
have  their  wives  and  daughters  taught.  Fourteen  years 
ago,  the  Church  of  England  society  alone  had  under  visita- 
tion eighteen  hundred  zenanas  with  four  thousand  pupils ; 
and  both  visitors  and  schools  have  steadily  grown  in  num- 
bers and  influence. 

Thus  suddenly  the  women  of  Christendom  discovered  a 
new  world,  with  limitless  possibilities  of  work  for  the 
Master.  Leupolt,  contemplating  the  fact  that,  not  only  to 
the  houses  of  the  lower  classes  of  natives,  but  to  the 
zenanas  in  cities  like  Benares,  Lucknow,  Agra,  Delhi, 
Amritsi,  Lahore,  etc.,  European  women  with  their  native 


WOMAN'S  WORK  171 

assistants  were  admitted  freely,  to  teach  the  word  of  God, 
exclaimed :  "  If  any  one  had  hinted  twenty-five  years  be- 
fore that  this  would  be,  I  would  have  replied,  '  All  things 
are  possible  to  God,  but  I  do  not  expect  such  a  glorious 
event  in  my  day.'  But  what  has  God  wrought!  more 
than  we  asked  or  thought,  expected  or  prayed  for!  His 
name  be  praised."  And,  when  Leupolt  thus  wrote,  already 
to  more  than  twelve  hundred  such  seraglios  the  agents  of 
the  Female  Normal  School  and  Instruction  Society  had 
access ;  and  even  this  was  many  years  ago,  when  the  work 
was  at  its  inception  comparatively,  and  referred  only  to 
the  success  of  one  organization!  An  intelligent  Hindu 
says :  "  If  these  women  reach  the  hearts  of  the  women  of 
our  country,  they  will  soon  get  at  the  heads  of  the  men." 

It  was  about  sixteen  years  since,  that  the  Indian  Educa- 
tion Commission  officially  reported  to  the  government  that 
the  most  successful  efforts  at  woman's  education,  after 
leaving  school,  had  been  conducted  by  missionaries;  that 
in  every  province  of  India,  Christian  women  had  devoted 
themselves  to  teaching  in  native  homes ;  and  recommended 
grants  for  zenana  work  to  be  recognized  as  a  proper 
charge  on  public  funds,  etc.  Soon  after,  a  Mohammedan 
paper  of  Lahore  urged  those  who  would  propagate  Islam, 
to  see  to  it  that  zenana  women  were  taught  the  Koran, 
lest  by  the  Christian  teaching  that  was  making  such  in- 
roads the  very  foundations  of  Allah's  empire  should  be 
demolished. 

Shaftesbury,  at  the  jubilee  of  the  Society  for  Promoting 
Female  Education  in  the  East,  in  1884,  said :  "  The  time  is 
at  hand  when  you  will  see  the  great  dimensions  of  the 
work  you  are  now  doing,  not  only  in  India  but  through- 
out the  East.  Great  changes  are  in  the  future."  His 
words  were  prophetic  of  what  is  already  taking  place. 
Ten  years  ago  this  society  had  missions  not  only  in  India 
and  Ceylon,  but  in  Japan,  Persia,  and  Africa,  etc.    One 


172  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

instance  may  be  cited  as  a  representative  example  of  how 
in  individual  cases  this  zenana  movement  proves  far- 
reaching  and  mighty,  namely  this:  at  the  girls'  central 
school  in  the  capital  of  Madagascar,  Miss  Bliss  taught  the 
young  princess  who  at  the  crisis  came  to  the  throne  in 
that  great  island. 

While  God  was  thus  opening  the  door  of  approach  and 
access  to  Gentile  women,  behold  Him  moving  Christian 
women  to  organize  for  the  great  Woman's  Crusade  of 
modern  history!  And  so  was  written  that  new  chapter 
of  history  which  records  the  rapid  growth  of  Women's 
Boards  of  Missions,  marking  the  next  grand  epoch  of 
woman's  epiphany  and  activity. 

Much  pains  have  been  taken  to  trace  the  facts,  the  early 
records  of  which  were  destroyed  by  fire,  and  to  correct 
the  general  misapprehension  as  to  the  origin  of  the  parent 
society.  Rev.  L.  A.  Gould,  in  a  letter  to  the  writer,  says : 
"  The  exact  facts  are  as  follows :  Mrs.  Ellen  B.  Mason, 
wife  of  Rev.  Francis  Mason,  D.D.,  a  Baptist  missionary 
from  Burmah,  stopped  in  Calcutta  on  her  way  to  America, 
and  learned  the  story  of  Mrs.  Mullens'  zenana  slippers. 
Mrs,  Mason,  with  two  ladies,  still  living,  Mrs.  J.  D.  Rich- 
ardson and  Mrs.  H.  C.  Gould,  my  mother,  visited  influen- 
tial families  in  Boston;  and  the  first  society^  consisting  of 
nine  ladies,  whose  names  I  have,  was  formed  in  Boston, 
November,  i860,  Miss  M.  V.  Ball,  President.  Subse- 
quently, in  1 86 1,  societies  were  formed  in  New  York, 
Brooklyn,  and  Philadelphia;  and  the  New  York  society, 
by  reason  of  its  strength,  was  allowed  to  become  the  gen- 
eral society.  These  facts  are  not  vital,  only  advantageous 
for  accuracy." 

Thus,  then,  was  organized,  forty  years  ago,  in  America, 
the  Woman's  Union  Missionary  Society,  which,  under  the 
leadership  of  the  loved  and  lamented  Mrs.  T.  C.  Doremus, 


WOMAN'S  WORK  173 

became  the  pioneer  society  of  America,  with  The  Mission- 
ary Link  as  its  organ.  This  was  an  undenominational  so- 
ciety, and  led  the  way,  as  the  parent  of  the  various  de- 
nominational Women's  Boards  now  found  connected  with 
all  the  great  Christian  bodies.  Of  all  these  societies  the 
one  originating  cause  was  the  inaccessibility  of  heathen 
women  save  to  their  own  sex;  and  the  one  aim  was  to 
organize  women,  in  cooperation  with  the  existing  for- 
eign missionary  societies,  for  sending  out  and  supporting 
unmarried  women  as  missionaries  and  teachers  to  their 
neglected  heathen  sisters. 

The  rallying  cry,  heard  in  Britain  over  sixty  years  ago, 
and  loudly  echoed  in  America  about  twenty  years  later, 
brought  Christian  women  boldly  to  the  front  in  all  the 
leading  denominations.  Early  in  1868,  was  formed  in 
Boston  the  New  England  Women's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  with  Mrs.  Albert  Bowker  for  President,  and  Mrs. 
Homer  Bartlett  for  Treasurer.  The  previous  year  the 
American  Board  had  sent  into  the  field  ten  single  women, 
appropriating  for  this  end  $25,000.  Christian  women  felt 
called  of  God  to  this  special  work,  and  the  following  were 
the  dominant  reasons : 

1.  Women  abroad  were  inaccessible  except  to  women. 

2.  Christian  womanhood  would  naturally  both  prompt 
and  help  work  for  woman. 

3.  Woman  owes  a  special  debt  to  Christ  for  what  He 
has  done  to  uplift  her  socially  and  domestically. 

4.  Woman  naturally  sympathizes  with  her  own  sex, 
and  can  appreciate  woman's  degradation  and  elevation. 

5.  Woman  abroad  needs  the  practical  illustration  of 
what  the  Gospel  can  do,  and  has  done,  for  women. 

6.  In  all  education  woman  is  God's  ordained  pioneer. 
As  wife,  mother,  sister,  daughter,  she  is  the  heart  of  the 
home  and  sways  its  scepter. 


174  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

7.  This  work  provides  a  legitimate  sphere  in  which  all 
that  is  best  in  woman  can  thus  be  amply  exercised  and 
developed. 

The  results  are  correspondent  with  what  might  be  ex- 
pected. Christian  women  became,  for  the  first  time  in  all 
history,  thoroughly  united  in  organized  work  for  souls. 
Their  interest  in  the  spiritual  uplifting  of  their  own  sex 
was  quickened;  larger  means  for  supporting  women  as 
missionaries  and  teachers  were  forthcoming;  intelligence 
was  more  widely  spread,  partly  by  cheap  mission  leaflets 
and  booklets;  offerings  were  systematically  gathered  in 
small  sums,  like  "  Carey's  weekly  pennies  " ;  direct  cor- 
respondence with  women  workers,  stated  meetings,  for 
prayer,  and  hearing  of  news  from  the  field — these  were 
the  results,  which  became  in  turn  causes  of  new  and  larger 
results. 

The  collections  of  the  first  month  enabled  this  early 
New  England  society  to  assume  the  support  of  a  mission- 
ary to  South  Africa.  At  the  end  of  three  months,  three 
women  became  living  links  with  the  foreign  field.  Miss 
Edwards  in  Africa  and  Miss  Andrews  and  Miss  Parmelee 
in  Turkey ;  and  ten  native  Bible  women  were  to  be  main- 
tained by  the  society.  By  October  8th,  1868,  at  Norwich, 
Conn.,  this  society  was  already  the  parent  of  auxiliaries 
everywhere  forming,  and  changed  its  name  to  "  The 
Women's  Board  of  Missions." 

In  the  same  month  of  the  same  year,  a  similar  society 
was  formed  in  the  great  West,  "  The  Women's  Board  of 
Missions  for  the  Interior,"  and  the  next  year  this  new 
society  assumed  the  support  of  Mrs.  Tyler  of  the  Madura 
mission,  and  Miss  Dean  of  Oroomiah,  and  issued  its  quar- 
terly, Life  and  Light  for  Heathen  Women,  During  its 
first  year  about  $4,000  were  gathered. 

So  rapidly  grew  the  women's  societies,  that  in  1884 


WOMAN'S  WORK  175 

there  were  twenty-two  Women's  Boards,  representing 
twelve  denominations,  and  an  aggregate  of  about  $1,000,- 
000  receipts!  In  1897,  the  total  number  of  women's  so- 
cieties had  reached  upwards  of  one  hundred. 

One  example  of  the  rapid  increase  of  gifts  ought  to  be 
added  to  show  the  power  of  many  little  sums,  systemat- 
ically gathered.  One  Board,  the  Presbyterian,  that  re- 
ported in  1 87 1  $7,000,  reported  $224,000  in  1886 — thirty- 
twofold  increase  in  fifteen  years!  And  the  increase  still 
goes  on. 

No  wonder  Thos.  Chalmers  should  have  declared  that 
he  had  found  in  benevolent  work^  that  one  woman  was 
equal  to  seven  and  a  half  men ! 

Zenana  work  was  only  one  direction  in  which  Christian 
women  have  organized  for  holy  activity  during  this  Vic- 
torian era — the  first  trumpet-blast  that  rallied  this  vast 
reserve  force  of  the  Lord's  army.  Then  came  the  Women's 
Boards,  both  of  Home  and  Foreign  Missions.  But  since 
then,  there  are  many  and  various  forms  of  holy  enterprise 
upon  which  the  Christian  sisterhood  have  entered.  Four 
or  five  stand  out  conspicuous,  tho  far  from  exhausting  the 
long  list. 

The  Women's  Temperance  Crusade  is  one  of  the  most 
memorable  for  its  desperate  daring.  Aroused  by  the  cru- 
elties inflicted  by  strong  drink,  and  hopeless  of  human  in- 
tervention, Christian  women  in  the  United  States  took  the 
kingdom  of  Satan  by  violence,  and  went  into  the  drink- 
shops  to  protest  with  dram-sellers,  knelt  on  the  floors  of 
bar-rooms,  and  with  prayers  and  tears  besought  God  to 
curse  the  drink  traffic  and  stop  its  awful  ravages.  When 
turned  into  the  street,  they  knelt  on  the  pavements,  in- 
terposing their  bodies  between  the  door  of  gin  palaces  and 
those  who  would  enter.  The  haunts  of  the  drunkard 
were  turned  into  places  of  prayer,  rum-sellers  changed  to 


176  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

evangelists,  and  sots  into  saints.  The  Women's  Christian 
Temperance  Union,  baptized  in  tears  and  prayers  and 
blood,  has  a  holy  martyr  history. 

The  Woman's  League  for  Social  Purity  attempted  to  do 
with  the  brothel  and  all  its  accessories  what  the  Temper- 
ance Crusade  undertook  with  the  drink-shop.  Obscene 
books,  prints,  exhibitions,  houses  of  ill-fame,  the  uses  of 
the  post  for  immoral  purposes,  and  the  perversion  of  law 
to  impure  ends, — these  and  other  helpers  and  abettors  of 
prostitution  and  corruption  occupied  their  attention.  It 
was  a  mighty  movement^  and  has  still  an  increasing  mo- 
mentum, directed  toward  the  purity  of  our  homes,  as  its 
sister  movement,  toward  their  sobriety.  It  required  great 
heroism  and  courage  of  conviction,  for  women  to  cast  off 
the  trammels  of  a  mock  modesty  and  a  refined  sensibility, 
call  things  by  their  right  names,  and  in  public  as  well  as  in 
private,  before  men  as  well  as  women,  and  sometimes  in 
courts  and  legislatures,  grapple  with  an  evil  that  even  men 
had  found  it  difficult  to  discuss.  But  they  have  done  it, 
and  challenged  universal  admiration  for  their  intrepid 
fidelity. 

The  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  has  done 
grand  work  for  young  women,  as  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  has 
for  young  men.  It  is  making  itself  felt  in  all  our  great 
cities,  in  throwing  a  loving  shelter  about  young  girls  who 
come  to  the  great  centers  of  population  to  find  employ- 
ment and  who  have  no  proper  home-life.  These  associa- 
tions have  erected  suitable  buildings  where  young  women 
find  board,  lodging,  companionship,  employment,  libraries, 
prayer-meetings,  Bible  classes,  and  every  aid  to  temporal 
and  spiritual  advancement.  If  there  is  any  more  beneficial 
institution  of  its  sort  in  existence,  we  do  not  know  of  such ; 
and  the  writer  can  speak  with  confidence  and  from  personal 
knowledge  of  the  immense  benefit  accruing,  having  him- 
self a  daughter  who  is  the  secretary  of  one  of  these  city 


WOMAN'S  WORK  177 

organizations.  Just  now  this  work  is  expanding  and  be- 
coming a  power  in  foreign  lands,  gathering  native  young 
women,  as  in  India,  into  the  embrace  of  a  consecrated 
Christian  sisterhood. 

Woman's  Medical  MissionW  ork  is  one  of  the  latest  born 
of  the  organized  movements  of  women  in  Christian  lands. 
To  have  women  going  forth  into  all  parts  of  the  world, 
not  simply  as  nurses  but  as  fully  qualified  physicians ;  and 
commending  themselves  even  to  imperial  governments  as 
competent  to  practise  medicine  and  surgery  side  by  side 
with  the  most  skillful  male  practitioners,  is  certainly  a  very 
marked  advance.  Here  is  especially  a  new  feature  of  the 
zenana  movement.  Women  penetrate  the  seclusion  of  ori- 
ental homes  with  the  balm  of  Gilead  in  one  hand  and  the 
balm  of  the  apothecary  in  the  other;  they  go  to  heal  the 
body  and  to  heal  the  soul,  to  preach  and  to  cure;  and  in 
true  apostolic  fashion  to  commend  themselves  to  the  heart, 
by  skill  in  ministering  to  the  ills  and  ailments  of  the  body. 
There  is  an  eminent  fitness  in  woman's  medical  ministry  to 
woman,  and  upon  it  God  is  setting  His  seal  and  sanction. 

In  the  Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor, 
and  the  Student  Volunteer  Missionary  Union,  women  are 
perhaps  as  prominent  leaders,  if  not  as  numerous  mem- 
bers, as  men.  But  our  object  is  to  call  attention  mainly  to 
organizations  solely  composed  of  and  officered  by  women, 
and  those  which  have  been  selected  out  of  many,  suffice  to 
illustrate  how.  in  every  direction  the  female  factor  in  the 
Church  of  Christ  is  making  itself  felt  as  never  before  in 
the  various  forms  of  Christian  activity.  There  is  not  one 
department  of  service  to  Christ  and  a  lost  humanity,  in 
which  women's  gentle  hand  is  not  found  conspicuous,  not 
only  in  association  with  men,  but  in  independent  methods 
of  organized  action. 

What  the  church  and  the  world  have  gained  hereby,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  estimate.     One  example  might  be 


tjS  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

given  out  of  many  thousands  as  a  typical  instance.  Some- 
what over  forty  years  ago,  Mrs.  Murrilla  B.  Ingalls, 
widow  of  Rev.  Lovell  Ingalls,  a  missionary  to  Arakan, 
after  a  visit  to  America,  returned  to  Burma,  and  went  at 
once  to  Thongze,  where  she  remained  and  had  entire  con- 
trol, without  help  from  any  male  missionary,  except  a  na- 
tive ordained  preacher  and  a  few  other  native  assistants. 
Often  alone,  with  marked  capacity  and  sagacity  she  car- 
ried on  the  mission  with  conspicuous  blessing.  Without 
transgressing  the  limits  of  propriety,  or  assuming  ecclesi- 
astical functions,  she  became  a  sort  of  acknowledged 
bishop  of  a  vast  diocese.  In  all  that  has  to  do  with  Chris- 
tian doctrine  and  church  organization  and  administration, 
she  taught  both  women  and  men.  She  chose  and  then 
trained  native  evangelists,  overseeing  the  schools  and  dis- 
covering the  aptitude  in  pupils  for  teachers,  and  then  train- 
ing them  for  educational  work.  She  maintained  strict 
discipline,  guided  the  church  in  appointing  pastors,  and 
then  humbly  trained  pastors  in  Bible  truth,  homiletic 
studies,  and  pastoral  theology.  She  established  Zayat 
preaching,  organized  a  circulating  library,  and  distributed 
Bibles  and  tracts  over  a  wide  district.  Seeing  the  great 
destitution  about  her,  she  went  with  her  Bible  women  on 
tours  into  the  country,  and  her  tent  became  the  resort  of 
multitudes  who  sought  instruction.  She  reminds  us  of  an- 
other woman,  who,  being  accused  of  "  preaching  "  by  those 
who  were  jealous  of  her  influence,  and  defending  her 
course  as  justifiable  from  New  Testament  examples,  was 
asked,  "  Were  you  ever  ordained?  "  "  No,"  she  answered, 
"'  but  I  was  foreordained/'  Mrs.  Ingalls  is  a  bright  ex- 
ample of  what  woman  has  done  and  is  doing  in  all  lands, 
and  those  who  would  pursue  the  study  of  the  theme  have 
only  to  read  the  story  of  such  heroic  women  as  the  three 
wives  of  Dr.  Judson,  the  second  Mrs.  Carey,  Mrs.  Krapf, 
Mrs.  Judith  Grant,  Fidelia  Fiske,  Eliza  Agnew,  Mrs.  Mc- 


WOMAN'S  WORK  179 

All,  Mrs.  Moffat  and  Mrs.  Livingstone,  Mary  Whately, 
Matilda  Rankin,  Mary  Graybell,  Clara  Cushman,  Hannah 
Mullens,  Rebecca  Wakefield,  Sarah  B.  Capron,  Mary  Will- 
iams, Dorothy  Jones,  Anna  Hinderer,  and  a  host  of  others 
who  have  adorned  the  annals  of  missions.  And  who  needs 
to  be  told  that  the  names  of  Florence  Nightingale  and 
Clara  Barton  are  inseparable  from  the  ministry  to  wounded 
and  sick  soldiers  and  victims  of  famine  and  persecution  and 
pestilence  the  world  over  ? 

Surely,  when  God  lifted  a  Christian  woman  to  the  Brit- 
ish throne  He  was  saying  to  her  whole  sisterhood  in  all 
Christian  lands,  "  Let  woman  appreciate  her  opportunity, 
for  it  is  the  golden  age  of  her  reign,  and  she  holds  a  scepter 
that  sways  empires.  Let  her  prove  herself  to  be  a  power 
ordained  of  God  to  fulfil  a  holy  mission  I  " 


CHAPTER  XIV 

RAMABAI  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA  * 

The  most  prominent  figure  among  the  women  of  the 
Orient  in  our  day  is  Pundita  Ramabai,  whose  work  in 
India  is  becoming  so  well  known,  and  awakening  such 
deep  interest  the  world  over. 

The  census  of  1891  showed  280,000,000  people  in  India, 
with  600,000  more  men  than  women,  owing  to  the  low 
status  of  woman  and  the  murder  of  female  infants.  Those 
who  are  not  starved  to  death  or  otherwise  disposed  of  in 
infancy,  find  life  so  miserable  that  many  become  suicides. 
The  men  rank  as  "  golden  vessels,"  however  defiled  the 
vessel  may  be,  but  it  is  a  crime  to  be  a  woman ;  she  is  but 
an  earthen  vessel,  and  a  very  unclean  one.  Especially  is 
a  widow  despised,  for  her  husband's  death  is  supposed  to 
be  due  to  her  sin.  The  suttee  is,  therefore,  deemed  a  fit 
penalty.  Cattle  have  had  hospitals,  but  not  until  fifteen 
years  ago  was  a  woman  treated  with  as  much  consideration 
as  a  cow.  Everything  about  that  animal  is  sacred,  even 
to  her  dung,  but  now  only  where  Christ  has  taught  the 
new  theology  of  womanhood  is  woman  respected.  Widows 
are  plenty,  for  every  fifth  woman  is  a  widow;  and  altho 
despised,  they  are  considered  good  enough  for  servile 
work.  When  no  longer  able  to  serve,  they  are  allowed  to 
die  like  other  beasts  of  burden.  As  the  nightingale's  eyes 
must  be  put  out  if  it  is  expected  to  sing  in  its  cage,  educa- 


*  This  article,  already  incorporated  in  the  "  Miracles  of  Missions,  3d 
series,  is  here  added  to  complete  the  survey  of  these  movements  of  the  half- 
century  and  especially  the  movements  for  woman's  elevation. — A.  T.  P. 

180 


RAMABAI  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA  i8i 

tion  is  denied  to  woman,  and  the  eyes  of  her  understand- 
ing are  bUnded  lest  she  rebel  against  her  lot.  Not  one  in 
fifty  can  read,  not  to  say  write.  Volumes  have  been  writ- 
ten upon  woman  in  India,  *  for  in  no  one  country,  per- 
haps, is  woman  so  bound  down  by  chains  wrought  of  com- 
bined custom  and  law,  caste  and  religion.  Womanhood  is 
crushed  out  because  hope  is  abandoned  by  all  those  who 
enter  woman's  estate.  Even  the  sacred  books  sanction  this 
horrible  degradation.  According  to  these,  she  has  no  legal 
or  social  status,  no  rights  which  a  man  is  bound  to  respect. 
She  is  not  capable  of  any  acts  of  devotion ;  is  to  obey  her 
husband,  however  immoral  his  commands,  and  worship 
him  if  she  would  have  salvation.  She  is  an  incarnation  of 
sin  and  lying,  and  can  not  be  believed  under  oath.  The  re- 
sults of  such  a  system  of  society  are,  of  course,  not  only 
child  marriage  and  polygamy,  but  infanticide,  slavery, 
prostitution,  and  the  suttee. 

CHILD  WIVES  AND  WIDOWS 

The  last  census  taken  in  the  presidency  of  Madras 
throws  a  lurid  light  on  the  terrible  evils  of  the  accursed 
system  of  child  marriage  in  this  great  eastern  empire.  It 
showed  23,938  girls  under  four  years  of  age,  and  142,606 
between  the  ages  of  five  and  nine  married;  988  baby 
widows  under  four  years  of  age,  and  4,147  girl  widows  be- 
tween five  and  nine  years  of  age.  There  are  two  cere- 
monies in  connection  with  an  Indian  marriage.  Should 
the  bridegroom  die  between  the  first  and  second  of  these 
ceremonies,  the  little  bride  becomes  a  widow,  doomed  to 
lifelong  wretchedness  and  ignominy.  Many  little  girls  are 
married  to  old  men  tottering  on  the  verge  of  the  grave, 

♦  The  foUowingr  authorities  may  be  consulted  :  Bainbridge,  *•  Round  the 
World  Tour ;  "  Woodside,  "  Woman  in  India;  "  Stewart,  '*  Life  and  Work 
in  India  ;  "  Wilkins,  "  Daily  Life  and  Work  in  India  ;  "  Storrow,  "  Our  Sisters 
in  India;  "  "  Wrongs  of  Indian  Womanhood,"  The  Bombay  Guardian^  etc., 
etc. 


1 82  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

and  this  again  aggravates  the  evil.  In  the  Madras  presi- 
dency alone  are  some  60,000  Brahman  widows,  widowed 
in  childhood,  and  doomed  for  life  to  the  coarse  white  cloak 
and  shaven  head  of  the  woman  who  is  cursed  by  the  gods. 
The  unhappy  lot  of  Indian  widows  is  partially  described 
in  the  following  native  editorial  extract  quoted  from  the 
Arya  Messenger.  This  paper  devotes  much  time  and 
thought  to  the  glorification  of  everything  indigenous,  and 
its  testimony  regarding  the  sad  lot  of  its  womankind  is, 
therefore,  particularly  valuable.  Were  a  missionary  to 
use  the  language  of  this  extract,  he  would  at  once  be  ac- 
cused of  mendacious  exaggeration,  or  something  equally 
terrible.     The  extract  reads  thus: 

There  are  at  present  out  of  6,016,759  married  girls  between 
five  and  nine  years  of  age,  174,000  widows  in  India.  These  un- 
fortunate creatures  are  condemned  to  a  life  of  perpetual  widow- 
hood, for  no  fault  of  their  own.  These  infants,  what  could  they 
have  possibly  done  to  deserve  so  cruel  a  fate?  They  could 
have  absolutely  no  idea  of  the  moment  when  they  were  be- 
trothed, and  most  of  them  could  have  no  idea  of  the  time  when 
they  were  married.  They  had  no  hand  in  the  choice  of  husbands 
for  themselves,  their  parents  bestowed  them  on  whomsoever 
they  chose,  and  now,  before  they  have  fairly  learned  to  talk, 
they  are  husbandless,  doomed  never  to  know  the  joys  of  a  home. 
It  is  impossible  to  imagine  anything  more  heartless,  anything  more 
savage  and  barbarous  than  the  treatment  which  has  been  accorded 
to  these  unhappy  girls  by  their  misguided  parents.  Why  should 
they  have  been  betrothed  and  wedded  when  mere  infants,  and  on 
what  grounds  can  it  be  justified  that  their  future  shall  be  dark 
and  dreary — a  succession  of  miseries  and  sufferings?  No  law, 
human  or  Divine,  can  justify  such  a  thing,  and  since  it  is  an 
outrage  upon  Divine  teaching  and  upon  man's  own  sense  of  jus- 
tice, it  is  but  natural  that  we  should  suffer  for  it.  And  we  do 
suffer  for  it  in  a  thousand  ways,  and  we  know  it.  What  can 
be  more  ridiculous,  more  monstrous  than  that  while  a  decrepit, 
spent-out  old  man,  with  one  foot  in  the  grave,  can  marry  a  young 
girl  at  any  time,  a  virgin,  who  is  in  the  prime  of  life,  who  has 
not  as  yet  lived  in  the  world  one-fifth  the  time  the  old  man  has> 


RAMABAI  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA    183 

should  be  absolutely  denied  the  right  of  taking  some  young  man 
as  husband!  The  father  of  a  widow  of  eight  or  nine  years  old 
may  marry  again  when  he  chooses,  but  the  poor  girl  herself  must 
never!  This  is  a  state  of  things  which  exists  nowhere  else 
under  the  sun. 

There  is  no  real  family  life  in  India.  There  could  not 
be  when  Hindu  philosophy  teaches  that,  "  He  is  a  fool  who 
considers  his  wife  his  friend."  A  few  extracts  from  a 
Hindu  catechism  give  some  idea  of  the  basis  for  the  ill- 
treatment  of  Indian  women : 

What  is  the  chief  gate  to  hell?     Woman. 
What  is  cruel f    The  heart  of  a  viper. 
What  is  more  cruel?    The  heart  of  a  woman. 
What  is  most  cruel  of  all?    The  heart  of  a  soulless,  penni- 
less widow. 
What  poison  is  that  which  appears  like  a  nectar?    Woman. 

The  marriage  of  girls  to  Khandoba  is  a  custom  which, 
like  sodomy,  can  not  be  treated  in  plain  words,  as  it  be- 
longs among  the  things  of  which  it  is  "  a  shame  to  speak." 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  it  implies  a  devotement  to  a  life  of 
vice  as  a  murli,  and  reminds  one  of  the  similar  customs 
connected  with  the  rites  of  Venus  and  Bacchus.  Parents 
lend  themselves  to  these  nameless  horrors,  and  additions  to 
the  Indian  penal  code  have  been  directed  to  the  mitiga- 
tion, if  not  abolition,  of  these  enormities. 

THE  STORY  OF  RAMABAI 

Ramabai  is  a  middle-aged  woman,  with  black  hair;  she 
is  slightly  deaf,  and  a  quiet  atmosphere  of  power  invests 
her.  She  talks  with  intelligence,  and  is  heard  everywhere 
with  profound  interest — the  more  so  as  the  facts  of  her 
life  are  known. 

This  woman  has  a  romantic  history.  Her  mother  was 
herself  a  child-bride,  wedded  to  a  widower  at  nine  years 
of  age^  and  taken  to  a  home  nine  hundred  miles  away. 


i84  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Ramabai  learned  many  lessons  from  her  mother's  lips, 
who  would  not  marry  her  in  infancy,  and  so  "  throw  her 
into  the  well  of  ignorance."  Her  father,  who  was  an  edu- 
cated Brahman  priest,  had  her  taught  Sanskrit  and  trained 
her  well.  He  lost  all  his  property,  and,  after  enduring  fear- 
ful suffering  with  his  wife  and  elder  daughter,  fell  a  vic- 
tim to  the  awful  famine  of  twenty-five  years  ago — 1874-77. 
Everything  of  value  was  sold  for  bread,  and  then  even 
the  necessities  of  life  had  to  yield  before  its  extremities; 
and  the  day  came  when  the  last  handful  of  coarse  rice  was 
gone,  and  death  stared  them  in  the  face.  They  went  into 
the  forest  to  die  there,  and  for  eleven  days  and  nights  sub- 
sisted on  water  and  leaves  and  wild  dates,  until  the  father, 
who  wanted  to  drown  himself  in  the  sacred  tank,  died  of 
fever,  as  also  the  mother  and  sister.  The  father's  dying 
prayers  for  Ramabai  were,  indeed,  addressed  to  the  un- 
known God,  but  have  been  answered  by  the  true  God,  who 
heard  the  supplications  of  a  sincere  but  misguided  parent. 
Then  the  brother  and  Ramabai  found  their  way  to  Calcutta, 
where  they  were  scarcely  better  off,  being  still  half  starved, 
and  for  four  years  longer  endured  scarcity.  There  this 
brother  also  died — a  very  strange  preparation  for  the  life- 
work  to  which  God  called  Ramabai.  When  twenty-two 
years  old,  her  parents  being  dead,  in  a  period  of  famine, 
during  which  she  suffered  both  for  lack  of  food  and  cloth- 
ing, as  well  as  shelter,  she  learned  a  lesson  which  prepared 
her  to  sympathize  with  others  who  suffered.  Life's  sor- 
rows and  privations  became  a  reality. 

Left  thus  alone,  her  beauty  and  culture  won  her  the 
coveted  title,  saravasti,  and  attracted  to  her  friends  and  ad- 
mirers. Finally  she  married  a  Bengali  gentleman,  and  for 
about  eighteen  months  was  happy  in  her  new  home,  a  baby 
girl  being  given  her.  But  her  husband's  death  introduced 
a  new  experience  of  sorrow.  The  world  was  before  her 
and  her  child,  and  two  grave  questions  confronted  her: 


RAMABAI  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA    185 

First,  how  shall  I  get  a  living?  and  second,  what  shall  I 
do  for  others? 

Ramabai,  being  thus  early  left  a  widow,  began  to  know 
the  real  horror  of  a  Hindu  widow's  lot,  and  resolved  to 
undertake,  as  her  life  mission,  to  relieve  this  misery  and 
poverty.  Her  heart  kindled  with  love  for  these  25,000,000 
child  widows  and  deserted  wives,  who  know  no  happiness ; 
who  are  often  half  starved,  are  doomed  to  perpetual  wid- 
owhood, and  to  whom  their  departed  husbands  are  prac- 
tically gods  to  be  worshipped. 

At  the  age  of  twenty  Ramabai  went  to  England,  where 
she  heard  the  Voice  that  called  Abraham  to  go  out,  not 
knowing  whither,  and  like  him  she  obeyed.  There  she 
was  converted  to  Christ,  and  baptized  in  1883.  She  taught 
Sanskrit  in  the  ladies'  college  at  Cheltenham,  her  purposes 
iov  life  meanwhile  taking  definite  shape. 

About  twelve  years  ago  she  visited  America,  where 
she  found  friends  disposed  to  help  her  start  her  school  for 
high-caste  widows  in  Bombay.  She  began  with  two  pu- 
pils, but,  despite  opposition  and  ridicule,  she  went  on  with 
her  God-appointed  mission,  and  now  has  over  400  pupils 
and  a  property  worth  $60,000,  embracing  a  hundred  acres, 
cultivated  by  them.  About  225  girls  have  been  brought 
to  Christ,  and  many  have  been  trained  for  useful  work, 
happily  married,  or  otherwise  profitably  employed.  In 
nine  years  Pundita  Ramabai  received  upward  of  $91,- 
000  for  the  work.  For  a  time  her  attitude  was  neg- 
ative and  neutral  as  regards  Christianity,  but  her  work  is 
now  distinctly  evangelical  and  Christian.  Love  is  its  at- 
mosphere, and  unselfish  labor  for  those  who  are  in  need, 
as  is  shown  by  the  opening  of  her  doors  lately  to  welcome 
300  famine  orphans.  Through  help  obtained  in  England 
and  the  United  States  she  built  at  Poena  a  building,  and 
opened  a  school  called  Sharada  Sadan  (Abode  of  Wis- 
dom). 


1 86  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

In  1896,  hearing  of  the  famine  desolating  the  central 
provinces,  she  made  arrangements  for  the  fifty  or  more 
widows  to  be  cared  for  at  Poona,  and  went  to  the  famine 
districts  resolved  to  rescue  at  least  300  girls  from  death; 
and  these  became  her  own,  under  her  control,  to  be  brought 
up  as  she  pleased.  Within  two  years  nearly  one-third  of 
this  number  had  accepted  Christ.  These  were  placed  on 
the  farm  at  Kedgaum,  about  thirty-four  miles  from 
Poona. 

One  must  have  lived  in  India  and  gone  through  a  fam- 
ine experience  to  understand  the  facts.  Government  poor- 
houses  and  relief  camps  she  found  to  be  inadequate ;  even 
where  the  bodies  were  sheltered  and  fed,  the  soul  was  in 
danger  from  the  character  of  those  who  were  employed  as 
mukadams,  managers,  etc.  She  found  young  girls  "  kept  " 
for  immoral  purposes  in  these  government  shelters  where 
virtue  was  presumably  also  in  shelter;  and  when  the 
deputy  commissioner  was  told  of  the  facts,  like  Gallio,  he 
"  cared  for  none  of  these  things!"  Ramabai  says  that 
young  women  had  to  sell  their  virtue  to  save  themselves 
from  starvation.  British  soldiers  often  oppose  mission- 
ary labor  because  it  breaks  up  this  infernal  traffic  in  virtue. 
Dr.  Kate  Bushnell  and  Mrs.  Andrew  exposed  the  doings 
of  high  military  officers,  and  further  exposures  are  feared 
where  godly  women  have  freedom  to  work. 

During  the  late  famine,  when  Poona  was  abandoned, 
Ramabai  was  supporting  372  girls,  of  whom  337  were  in 
Kedgaum,  at  the  farm,  while  the  rest  were  at  different 
places.  When  this  farm  was  bought,  embracing  100  acres, 
the  government  would  not  allow  dormitories  to  be  put  up. 
Ramabai's  reply  was,  "  I  will  build  a  barn  for  bullocks  and 
grain."  She  went  on  and  put  up  a  large  building,  and  by 
the  time  it  was  completed,  she  had  permission  to  put  girls 
in  it  instead  of  cattle.    Thus  she  stored  it  with  "  grain  for 


RAMABAI  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA    187 

the  Lord."  That  **  cattle-shed  "  became  a  shelter  for  200 
famine  widows,  and  later  served  as  school-house,  chapel, 
dormitory,  etc.  Temporary  shelters  were  also  erected  and 
the  new  settlement  was  called  Mukti  (Salvation). 

The  work  at  Mukti  is  constantly  growing,  and  has  the 
growing  confidence  of  intelligent  and  Christian  people. 
The  new  buildings  now  completed  are  already  insufficient 
to  accommodate  the  inmates,  and  new  buildings  will  be 
put  up  as  fast  as  the  Lord  sends  means.  The  heart  of  this 
godly  woman  travails  for  souls,  and  she  can  not  see  the 
misery  and  poverty  about  her  without  yearning  to  relieve 
it.  A  few  poor  women,  ruined  by  vice  and  terribly  dis- 
eased, are  housed  for  the  time  in  separate  chuppee  huts, 
until  a  home  for  such  can  be  provided. 

This  home  is  not  a  place  of  idleness,  but  a  hive  of  indus- 
try. Education  for  the  mind,  salvation  for  the  soul,  and 
occupation  for  the  body  is  the  threefold  law ;  washing  and 
weaving,  cooking  and  sweeping,  growing  grain  and  grind- 
ing it,  flower  culture  and  fruit  raising — these  are  some  of 
the  industries  in  which  the  girls  are  trained,  and  which 
contribute  toward  their  self-support. 

The  teachers  are  exclusively  Christian,  and  the  settle- 
ment is  a  truly  missionary  center.  Miss  Abrams,  who 
superintended  the  work  in  Ramabai's  absence,  gives  her 
whole  time  to  it,  giving  Bible  instruction  in  the  school, 
and  supervising  the  village  work.  She  had  only  to  suggest 
to  students  a  pledge  like  that  of  the  student  volunteers, 
and  thirty-five  at  once  offered  to  follow  any  leading  of  God 
into  mission  work.  A  score  of  neighboring  villages  are 
already  accessible  to  the  Gospel,  and  crowds  gather  around 
Miss  Abrams  and  her  Gospel  women. 

The  Holy  Spirit  works  with  Ramabai.  The  girls  show 
real  sorrow  for  sin,  and  hunger  after  salvation.  Then 
when  they  are  saved,  they  become  witnesses,  and  in  their 


i88  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

own  simple  way  tell  of  forgiveness  and  cleansing.  In  the 
hospital  there  are  also  frequent  manifestations  bf  God's 
healing  power. 

When  she  set  up  her  school  in  Poona,  Ramabai  made  no 
efforts  at  proselyting  the  inmates  but  some  five  or  six 
years  ago  twelve  or  thirteen  of  them,  won  to  Christ  by  her 
unselfish  love,  renounced  heathenism,  and  were  baptized 
into  Christ.  Poona  was  greatly  aroused  by  such  an  event, 
and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  tho  the  home  itself  would  be 
reduced  to  a  ruin.  Ramabai  called  a  public  meeting,  and 
undertook  to  explain  why  these  widows  had  accepted 
Christ.  The  streets  were  thronged  with  people,  and  a 
crowd  of  young  men  filled  the  hall  where  she  was  to  speak. 
Without  a  sign  of  anxiety,  Ramabai  stood  up  to  address 
them.  She  spoke  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  slavery  of  the 
Hindus;  how  incapable  they  are  of  helping  themselves, 
while  they  are  asking  for  political  freedom ;  how  unhappy 
their  family  life  is,  and  especially  how  miserable  is  the 
lot  of  their  women.  Then,  holding  up  the  Marathi  Bible 
she  said : 

"  I  will  read  to  you  now  what  is  the  reason  of  all  your  misery, 
degradation,  and  helplessness;  it  is  your  separation  from  the 
living  God !  "  It  was  growing  dark,  and  she  asked  one  of  the 
excited  Hindu  youths  to  bring  a  lamp  that  she  might  read.  With- 
out a  moment's  hesitation  he  obeyed.  After  reading  some  pas- 
sages, she  began  to  speak  of  the  conversions  of  the  widows,  and 
then  said :  "  Your  view  of  my  actions  cannot  influence  me  in 
the  least,  nor  can  your  threatenings  frighten  me.  You  like  to 
be  slaves;  I  am  free!  Christ,  the  truth,  has  made  me  free." 
The  excitement  was  tremendous,  and  the  Brahmans  only  re- 
strained themselves  with  difficulty;  but  they  heard  her  out  to  the 
end  in  dead  silence,  and  allowed  her  to  walk  uninjured  through 
their  ranks  to  her  home. 

The  storm  passed  away,  and  the  home  remained  undis- 
turbed— sheltering  some  sixty  women,  and  training  them 
for  lives  of  usefulness.    The  Sharada  Sadan  is  still  a  secu- 


RAMABAI  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA    189 

lar  school,  but  Mukti  is  distinctly  Christian,  tho  unsec- 
tarian. 

Pundita  Ramabai  has  made  two  visits  to  this  country. 
Once  ten  or  eleven  years  ago,  when  she  came  to  ask  aid, 
and  again,  more  recently,  when  she  came  to  give  account 
of  her  stewardship.  During  this  decade  of  years,  the 
Ramabai  circles  had  sent  her  upward  of  80,000  dollars. 
Fifty  thousand  dollars  of  this  she  had  invested  in  property, 
free  from  debt,  and  over  350  high-caste  widows  have 
already  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  her  school,  and  are  now  fill- 
ing various  places  of  self-support  and  service. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  MOVEMENT  TOWARD  CHURCH  UNION 

Ever  since  the  Reformation  there  have  been  going  for- 
ward two  exactly  opposite  movements,  due  to  as  many 
opposite  tendencies — the  movement  toward  sectarian  divi- 
sion, and  the  movement  toward  denominational  union. 

That  two  so  opposite  tendencies  should  be  in  operation 
at  the  same  time  seems,  at  first  glance,  contradictory  and 
inexplicable;  but  a  moment's  careful  consideration  will 
show  not  only  that  it  is  a  fact,  but  that  there  is  a  reason- 
able philosophy  behind  the  fact.  The  Reformation  broke 
the  shackles  of  religious  thought  by  releasing  men  from 
bondage  to  papal  superstition  and  prelatical  authority.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  Rome  holds  that  heresy  is  to  be 
suppressed,  not  only  in  its  expression,  but  in  its  concep- 
tion ;  and  hence  the  Inquisition  dealt  with  parties  suspected 
of  heretical  opinion,  and  sought,  by  the  rack,  to  compel 
the  disclosure  of  individual  and  secret  sentiment.  The 
immediate  effect  of  the  dawn  of  religious  liberty  was  that 
men  began  to  think  freely,  then  to  speak  freely ;  and  thus 
they  disclosed  divergencies  of  opinion,  which,  being  posi- 
tively held  and  expressed  with  impunity,  led  to  controver- 
sies, and  controversies  to  separations  for  opinion's  sake,  un- 
til even  minor  matters  of  differing  opinion  became  the 
watchwords  of  ecclesiastical  parties,  and  sects  multiplied 
until  we  have  now  about  as  many  nominally  Christian 
bodies,  large  and  small,  as  there  are  days  in  the  year. 

This  result  was  natural.  The  only  way  to  keep  men 
from  such  separations  is  to  keep  them  in  ignorance,  and 

190 


MOVEMENT  TOWARD  CHURCH  UNION  191 

in  dependent  skvery  to  authority.  Liberty  always  leads  to 
individualism  and  independence.  Men  can  be  kept  on  a 
level  only  by  the  despot's  method — cutting  off  any  head 
that  rises  above  the  common  plane.  The  instant  that  a 
dead  level  of  equality  and  subordination  is  no  longer  en- 
forced by  violence  done  to  manhood,  differences  begin  to 
assert  themselves  and  to  become  increasingly  manifest  and 
manifold. 

On  the  other  hand,  hearts  are  drawn  together  by  a 
common  faith  and  a  common  love  and  a  common  service. 
True  disciples  can  not  but  feel  that  all  believers  are  essen- 
tially one — one  in  agreement  upon  fundamentals — ^and  it 
requires  but  little  candid  consideration  to  perceive  that  the 
things  in  which  we  agree  are  of  infinitely  more  consequence 
than  those  upon  which  we  differ.  After  all  these  wars  in 
words,  however  bitter  the  controversial  spirit  may  have 
been,  when  true  believers  get  on  their  knees  together,  they 
pray  the  same  theology,  and  the  purest  hymnology  of  all 
the  ages  shows  no  traces  of  rancorous  strife  over  lesser 
matters  of  divergent  opinion.  Prayers  and  praises  never 
betray  sectarian  shibboleths. 

And,  as  there  is  a  common  faith  down  beneath  all  de- 
nominational creeds  so  there  is  a  common  love  down  be- 
neath all  external  alienations  and  separations.  Those  who 
love  the  unseen  God  respond  with  affection  toward  His 
image  wherever  found  in  man.  The  unseen  God  appears 
manifested  in  the  seen  likeness  of  God  in  the  disciple. 
There  may  be  different  tongues  on  earth,  but  Abba,  Je- 
hovah, Hallelujah,  are  the  same  in  all  tongues,  and  tell 
of  a  common  heavenly  dialect.  Whenever  the  Spirit 
works  in  common,  common  fruits  appear,  and  the  first  of 
them  all  is  love. 

Again,  common  service  brings  disciples  together.  They 
leave  the  atmosphere  of  denominational  variance  behind 
when  they  come  face  to  face  with  the  desperate  needs  of 


192  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

a  lost  race.  Where,  as  in  India,  woman  has  no  rights, 
which  a  man  is  bound  to  respect,  while  everything  about  a 
cow  is  sacred,  even  to  animal  excrement,  the  differences 
that  divide  evangelical  Christians  at  home  seem  ludicrously 
little.  Where,  as  in  Africa,  mud  from  a  river,  molded  into 
a  rude  resemblance  to  a  human  form,  is  set  up  for  worship ; 
or  a  snake's  poison  fang,  an  elephant's  tooth,  or  a  bit  of 
parchment,  is  looked  upon  as  a  charm  more  potent  than 
prayer  to  the  infinite  God,  missionaries  forget  their  Calvin- 
ism and  Arminianism,  their  differences  in  church  polity 
and  doctrinal  standards,  and  come  close  to  each  other  in  the 
effort  to  lift  men  out  of  the  awful  slough  of  fetish  wor- 
ship and  animalism.  * 

And  so,  at  home,  the  more  Christians  know  of  each 
other,  and  the  more  frequently  they  meet  for  common  wor- 
ship or  in  common  work,  the  more  they  forget  that,  in  any 
respect,  they  are  not  one.  They  misjudge  each  other  while 
they  see  each  other  from  a  distance ;  but,  when  they  come 
nigh,  each  sees  in  the  other  the  countenance  of  a  friend, 
a  brother,  a  sister.  They  feel  ashamed  of  what  has  kept 
apart  those  who  are  redeemed  by  the  same  blood  and  in- 
dwelt by  the  same  Spirit,  and  are  on  their  way  to  the  same 
home. 

Of  late  years,  after  denominational  and  sectarian  diver- 
gencies had  spent  their  force,  and  the  centrifugal  ten- 
dencies had  so  long  and  so  sadly  prevailed,  the  centripetal 
— the  power  of  one  faith,  love,  and  work — ^began  to  be 
more  manifest  and  to  claim  recognition.  One  of  the  first 
of  these  counter-movements  was  what  is  known  as  the 
Evangelical  Alliance — a  happy  name  to  express  an 
alliance  whose  basis  is  evangelical  truth  held  by 
all    alike.    This    movement    is    a    little    over    fifty  years 


*  See  also  the  "  Declaration  of  Unity,"  issued  by  the  Protestant  mission- 
aries in  China  printed  in  the  January  number  of  the  Missionary  Review^ 
x8g9,  p.  5«. 


MOVEMENT  TOWARD  CHURCH  UNION  193 

old,  having  been  organized  in  London  in  1846.  In 
its  public  meetings,  brethren  have  met  on  a  com- 
mon platform,  uttered  harmonious  testimony,  and 
evinced  mutual  sympathy ;  and,  in  face  of  common  perils, 
or  the  invasion  of  Christian  privilege  and  right,  have  stood 
by  each  other  in  a  united  and  effective  remonstrance.  It 
is  to  be  lamented  that  in  America  the  Evangelical  Alliance 
is  far  less  effective  as  an  organization,  in  some  respects^ 
than  in  Britain,  tho,  under  the  lead  of  Dr.  Josiah  Strong, 
there  were  ten  years  of  most  efficient  work  done  in  one 
direction,  namely,  that  of  reaching  the  non-churchgoers 
in  our  great  cities.  In  more  recent  years  the  free  churches 
of  Britain  have  been  drawn  closer  in  an  annual  church 
congress,  which  is  now  becoming  a  confederation.  This 
latter  is,  perhaps,  the  most  conspicuous  form  of  church 
unity  in  our  day,  and,  in  some  respects,  the  most  promising, 
tho  not  perhaps  without  its  difficulties  and  dangers. 

Those  who  have  watched  the  signs  of  the  times  have 
noticed,  with  more  than  a  passing  interest,  the  develop- 
ment of  this  unifying  tendency.  For  example,  in  1890, 
representatives  of  various  bodies  met  in  England — ^min- 
isters and  members  of  the  Established  Church  and  of  the 
Congregational  churches — and  held  a  series  of  twelve  con- 
ferences, seeking  a  platform  on  which  they  could  agree, 
and  which  might  serve  as  a  doctrinal  basis  on  which  to 
unite  and  become  one  church.  *    Among  those  composing 


*  We  here  condense  an  account  of  the  Free  Church  Federation,  from  a 
recent  English  periodical ;  "  In  1890,  Dr.  Guinness  Rogers  suggested  tho 
holding  of  a  congress  of  all  denominations.  Wesleyans,  Presbyterians,  Bap- 
tists, Congregationalists,  meeting  on  the  same  platform,  not  for  an  inter- 
change of  compliments  and  courtesies,  but  for  true  Christian  fellowship 
in  devotional  service,  and  for  counsel  on  common  Christian  work,  would 
be  a  striking  illustration  of  a  Catholic  Church  including  various  sections, 
each  with  its  own  form  of  development,  and  with  its  distinctive  features  of 
doctrine  and  ritual,  but  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus." 

Invitations  were  sent  out  to  a  first  congress  in  Manchester,  England,  in 
1892.  Two  years  later  a  second  congress  was  held  at  Leeds,  where  a  more 
formal  organization  of  the  movement  was  commenced,  and  by  1896  ten 
thousand  churches,  with  a  membership  of  a  million,  were  represented.    By 


194  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

the  .conference,  were  seven  Episcopalians,  including  Canon 
Westcott  and  the  dean  of  Worcester,  and  six  Congrega- 
tional ministers,  including  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Allon,  H.  R. 
Reynolds,  president  of  Chestnut  College,  and  Rev.  Dr.  J.  P. 
Paton. 

The  conference  was  able  to  agree  upon  a  statement  of 
the  essential  doctrines  of  Christianity,  as  revealed  in  the 
Bible ;  the  divine  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  the  Apostles' 
and  Nicene  creeds,  the  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  the  Atone- 
ment, the  Resurrection,  the  need  of  saving  faith  in  Christ, 
being  held  by  all,  universally  accepted  by  Christians,  and 
already  expressed  in  terms  unobjectionable  to  all  evan- 
gelical denominations,  as  in  the  doctrinal  basis  of  the 
Evangelical  Alliance.  But  the  main  obstacles  to  a  union  of 
all  the  churches  lie  in  the  denominational  peculiarities.  The 
use  of  a  liturgical  service  might  be  made  optional ;  but  im- 
mersion, the  form  of  church  organization  and  government, 
the  doctrine  of  priesthood,  are  matters  on  which  such  dif- 
ference of  opinion  and  conviction  exists,  that  little  advance 
has  been  made  toward  reconciling  or  eliminating  them. 

Here  the  English  conference  split  in  1890.   The  Angli- 


the  end  of  1898  some  five  hundred  local  councils  had  been  formed,  divided 
amongst  twenty-five  district  federations. 

The  objects  of  the  movement  have  been  defined  thus  :  (a)  To  facili- 
tate fraternal  intercourse  and  cooperation  among  the  Evangelical  Free 
Churches,  (b)  To  assist  in  the  organization  of  local  councils,  (c)  To  en- 
courage devotional  fellowship  and  mutual  counsel  concerning  the  spiritual 
life  and  religious  activities  of  the  churches,  {(f)  To  advocate  the  New 
Testament  doctrine  of  the  Church,  and  to  defend  the  rights  of  the  asso- 
ciated churches,  (e)  To  promote  the  application  of  the  law  of  Christ  in 
every  relation  of  human  life. 

The  methods  adopted  to  attain  these  objects  have  been  many  and  various; 
one  of  the  most  important  being  the  holding  of  united  missions. 

Another  important  phase  of  the  work  is  the  arranging  for  systematic  visi- 
tation, with  free  distribution  of  good  literature,  and  invitations  to  attend 
places  of  worship.  This  is  greatly  facilitated  by  dividing  the  neighborhood 
covered  by  the  local  council  into  "  parishes,"  special  maps  having  been 
prepared  in  many  cases  showing  the  streets  allotted  to  each  of  the  churches. 
The  growth  of  Evangelical  Protestantism,  the  increase  of  the  social  well- 
being  of  the  people,  and  the  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  of  the  churches 
^ve  already  been  the  result. 


MOVEMENT  TOWARD  CHURCH  UNION  195 

cans  held  fast  to  the  priestly  order,  to  ordination  by  the  lay- 
ing on  of  Episcopal  hands,  as  qualifying  to  duly  administer 
the  sacraments  "  in  all  those  things  that  of  necessity  are 
requisite  to  the  same,"  and  to  a  participation  in  the  sacra- 
ments, so  administered,  as  essential  to  membership  in  the 
hbly  Catholic  Church.  Congregationalists  and  other  be- 
lievers, outside  of  the  Anglican  and  Roman  churches,  were 
not  ready  to  accept  such  opinions  or  bow  to  such  claims. 
We  quote: 

"  It  is  well  to  be  frank.  It  is  best  to  declare  at  the  outset  that 
we  positively  reject  the  priestly  order  of  ministers,  as  contrary 
to  Revelation  and  history.  There  was  no  such  order  in  the 
Apostolic  Church.  It  was  one  of  the  innovations  which  led  to 
the  formation  of  the  papal  hierarchy.  The  churches  of  the  Ref- 
ormation with  entire  propriety,  excluded  every  trace  of  hier- 
archical office  and  power  from  their  organizations.  From  this 
the  Church  of  England  is  the  chief  dissenting  body.  It  adopted 
the  hierarchy,  man  made,  as  it  found  it,  simply  cutting  off  the 
pope  and  his  council.  It,  and  not  the  Congregational  or  Presby- 
terian body,  is  the  non-conforming  church.  The  churches  of  the 
Reformation  held,  as  they  were  taught  by  the  New  Testament, 
that  the  entire  body  of  Christian  believers  constitutes  *  a  royal 
priesthood,'  and  that  no  minister  is  or  can  be  a  priest  in  any 
sense  differing  from  the  priesthood  of  believers. 

"  It  should  be  distinctly  understood  that  the  large  majority  of 
Christians  conscientiously,  decisively,  and  absolutely  rejects  the 
doctrine  that  a  minister  is  a  priest  in  any  special  sense,  in  a 
sense  differing  in  any  degree  from  the  priesthood  of  every  be- 
liever; that  the  necessity  for  Episcopal  ordination  is  as  distinctly 
and  absolutely  rejected  by  the  same  majority;  that  the  depend- 
ence of  the  sacraments  for  efficacy  on  a  priestly  order  is  no 
less  absolutely  rejected.  This  rejection  of  a  priestly  order,  and 
all  it  includes,  is  conscientious,  and  rests  upon  faith  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. No  union  is  possible  between  the  majority  of  Christian 
denominations  and  the  Episcopal  Church,  if  it  involves  an  ac- 
ceptance of  a  priestly  order  of  clergymen. 

"  Not  a  few  question  if  it  be  wise  to  bring  all  Christians  to- 
gether in  one  church  organization.  Would  not  such  a  body  be  ex- 
posed to  mighty  temptations,  involving  great  perils?    There  is  a 


196  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

great  deal  of  old  Adam  left  in  the  best  of  us.  Position  and  power 
are  very  attractive.  There  are  ambitious  men  in  the  Church,  who 
are  also  good  men,  who  seek  for  places  of  influence  and  control. 
Such  an  organization  would  have  great  political  importance,  and 
aspiring  politicians,  just  as  was  the  case  with  the  Papal  Church 
for  many  years,  would  strive  to  secure  the  support  of  the  one 
great  holy  Catholic  Church.  Their  schemes  would  be  invented 
and  applied  with  consummate  skill,  and  the  leaders  of  the  Church 
would  be  exposed  to  temptations  tremendous  in  power  and  per- 
sistence.   Is  it  wise  to  enter  upon  such  risks?  " 

A  federation  of  denominations  is,  however,  another 
matter  altogether,  and  seems  desirable.  Every  desirable 
end  that  an  organic  union  could  secure,  could  be  as  well 
obtained,  perhaps,  through  a  federation  of  churches,  with- 
out incurring  many  of  the  risks  otherwise  involved. 

The  following  basis  of  agreement  was  reached  at  this 
conference.  It  would  be  difficult  to  improve  upon  it,  per- 
haps, as  an  acceptable  ground  for  common  agreement: 

The  Christian  Faith. 

I.  In  recognizing  the  Bible  as  of  Divine  authority,  and  as  the 
sole  ultimate  test  of  doctrine  in  matters  of  faith,  as  is  expressed 
in  the  sixth  article  of  the  Church  of  England. 

II.  In  accepting  the  general  teaching  of  the  Apostles'  Creed 
and  the  Nicene  Creed,  including,  of  necessity,  the  doctrines  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  and  the  Atonement. 

III.  In  recognizing  a  substantial  connection  between  the  resur- 
rection body  and  the  present  "  body  of  humiliation." 

IV.  That  saving  faith  in  Christ  is  that  self-surrender  to  Him 
which  leads  a  man  to  believe  what  he  teaches,  and  to  do  what 
He  bids,  so  far  as  he  has  opportunities  of  knowledge. 

The  Christian  Morality. 

I.  In  the  conviction  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Christian  so- 
ciety to  consider,  in  the  light  of  the  principles,  motives,  and 
promises  of  the  faith,  the  problems  of  domestic,  social,  and  na- 
tional morality,  with  a  view  to  concerted  action. 

II.  That  progressive  sanctification  is  essential  to  the  Christian 
life;  so  that  without  it  neither  professed  faith,  nor  conversion, 


MOVEMENT  TOWARD  CHURCH  UNION  197 

nor  sacraments,  nor  worship,  can  avail  for  the  salvation  of  the 
soul. 

Christian  Discipline. 

I.  That  the  divisions  among  Christians  render  the  due  admin- 
istration of  discipline,  in  the  case  of  those  who  openly  deny  the 
fundamental  truths  of  Christianity,  or  offend  against  Christian 
morality,  extremely  difficult;  and  that  greater  caution  should  be 
used  in  admitting  to  the  privileges  of  membership  those  who 
leave,  or  are  expelled  from,  the  Christian  community  to  which 
they  have  belonged. 

II.  That  while  it  is  most  desirable  that  this  caution  should 
be  exercised  in  all  cases  of  members  of  one  Christian  society 
seeking  admission  into  another,  by  careful  inquiry  being  made, 
and  adequate  testimony  being  required,  as  to  their  Christian 
character,  this  is  especially  important  in  regard  to  those  who 
desire  to  exercise  the  ministerial  office. 

Christian  Worship. 

I.  That  Congregationalists  can  accept  and  use  the  treasures 
of  devotion — hymns,  collects,  liturgies,  etc. — accumulated  by  the 
Church  during  the  Christian  ages;  and  many  Nonconformists 
think  that  in  certain  circumstances  it  is  desirable  to  do  so. 

II.  That  Churchmen  can  accept  the  use  of  extempore  prayer 
in  public  worship ;  and  many  Churchmen  think  that  in  certain  cir- 
cumstances it  is  desirable  to  do  so. 

III.  That  rigid  uniformity  in  public  worship  is  undesirable, 
and  that  to  enforce  it  by  civil  penalties  is  a  mistake. 

The  Christian  Sacraments. 

That  altho  it  is  desirable  that  every  one  should  seek  to  know 
the  true  doctrine  of  the  sacraments,  yet  their  efficacy  does  not  de- 
pend upon  such  knowledge,  but  lies,  on  the  one  hand,  in  the  due 
administration  of  the  sacraments  "  in  all  those  things  that  of 
necessity  are  requisite  to  the  same,"  and,  on  the  other,  in  the  use 
of  them  with  a  true  desire  to  fulfill  the  ordinance  of  Christ. 

The  Christian  Church  and  Ministry. 

I. 

I.  That  the  Catholic  Church  is  a  society  founded  by  Christ, 
the  members  of  which  are  united  in  Him,  and  to  each  other,  by 


198  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

spiritual  ties,  which  are  over  and  above  those  that  attach  to 
them  simply  as  men. 

2.  That  these  ties  depend  upon  a  special  union  with  the  Person 
of  the  One  Mediator,  and  a  special  indwelling  of  the  One  Spirit. 

The  Nonconformist  members  of  the  conference  are  unable  to 
admit : 

1.  That  the  reception  of  visible  sacraments  is  essential,  in 
ordinary  cases,  to  the  establishment  of  these  ties. 

2.  That  through  the  reception  of  the  visible  sacraments  these 
ties  may  subsist,  tho  not  forever,  in  those  who  are  not  believing 
and  living  as  Christian  people  should. 

Both  agree: 

11. 

1.  That  Christ  has  established  a  perpetual  ministry  in  the  Cath- 
olic Church. 

2.  That  no  one  can  rightly  exercise  this  ministry  unless  he  be 
ordained  to  it  by  Christ  Himself. 

3.  That  there  is  a  divinely  appointed  distinction  of  office  in  this 
ministry. 

The  Nonconformist  members  of  the  conference  are  unable  to 
admit : 

1.  That  there  is  a  divinely  appointed  threefold  distinction  of 
orders  in  this  ministry, 

2.  That  external  ordination  by  the  laying  on  of  Episcopal  hands 
is  necessary  for  its  rightful  exercise. 

The  objections  to  organic  union,  above  stated,  are  not 
the  only  ones  urged  by  those  who  doubt  the  wisdom  or 
expediency  of  such  union.  There  are  those  who  are  ex- 
ceedingly jealous  of  the  simplicity  of  worship,  and  who 
fear  the  rapid  encroachments  of  modern  ritualism ;  and  they 
apprehend  danger  from  the  contagion  and  infection  of 
closer  contact  with  all  this  formalism  and  sacerdotalism. 
For  example :  Protestant  clergy  were  indignant  at  the  cele- 
bration at  an  Anglican  church,  at  a  Church  Congress 
service,  of  what  was  practically  high  mass.  On  behalf  of  a 
number  of  members  of  the  congress,  Mr.  Harry  Miller 
sent  a  protest  to  Archdeacon  Emery,  the  permanent  secre- 
tary, mentioning  among  illegal   practices   introduced — a 


MOVEMENT  TOWARD  CHURCH  UNION  199 

procession  in  the  church  with  banners,  crucifix,  Hghted 
candles,  and  thurifer;  the  use  of  chasuble,  alb,  etc.,  the 
bishop  (of  Argyll  and  the  Isles)  wearing  miter  and  cope; 
the  use  of  wafer  bread ;  the  elevation  of,  and  kneeling  be- 
fore, the  consecrated  elements;  ceremonial  mixing  water 
with  the  wine  during  service ;  ceremonial  lighting  of  twenty 
candles  immediately  before  the  prayers  of  consecration ;  the 
frequent  use  of  incense  and  the  censing  of  the  communion 
table,  celebrant,  choir,  and  congregation;  the  use  of 
sacring  bells ;  the  celebrant  standing  with  back  to  the  peo- 
ple during  the  prayer  of  consecration,  so  as  to  hide  the 
manual  acts ;  the  use  of  "  altar  "  cards ;  procession  with 
bishop  to  the  pulpit,  with  lighted  candles  and  crucifix, 
etc.,  etc. 

If  church  union  means  mingling  of  a  radical  Protestant 
sentiment  and  practice  with  such  "  rags  of  Romanism," 
there  will  be  not  a  few  "  dissenters  "  from  such  union,  and 
"  absenters  "  from  such  services. 

A  very  conspicuous  peril  besetting  all  these  modern  ef- 
forts toward  organic  union,  lies  in  the  tendency  to  undue 
breadth  of  platform.  Charity  may  only  be  another  name 
for  laxity.  In  the  desire  to  make  room  for  all  disciples 
there  is  a  subtle  temptation  to  add  another  plank  which  ex- 
tends the  basis  a  little  beyond  the  strictly  evangelical  limits. 
Implied  forbearance  with  individual  peculiarities  of  teach- 
ing and  practise  may  easily  pass  into  express  toleration  of 
serious  errors  and  unscriptural  practises.  Loose  views  of 
inspiration,  Socinianism,  Pelagianism,  Justification  by 
works,  notions  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  rob  Him  of  all 
proper  personality,  and  the  various  evasions  of  future  ret- 
ribution, may  all  easily  demand  a  recognition,  at  least  the 
recognition  of  silence  which  is  practical  consent.  Here  we 
must  all  recognize  a  rock  of  risk  of  which  disciples  in 
drawing  near  to  each  other  must  steer  clear.  Practically 
this  is  a  present  risk  in  the  movement  toward  unity  in  Bri4:- 


loo  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ain  and  causes  many  to  withhold  their  presence  and  co- 
operation. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  how  far  may  we  safely 
go  in  reference  to  federating  evangelical  disciples  in  closer 
external  bonds?  To  this  inquiry  we  give  such  answers 
as  we  may,  glad  to  have  our  readers  suggest  any  modifica- 
tion. 

1.  Hearty  and  formal  recognition  of  the  essential  and 
vital  truths  of  Christianity,  as  the  common  basis  of  all  in- 
timate fellowship,  such  as  the  plenary  inspiration  of  Scrip- 
ture, the  Divinity  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  His  vicarious 
Atonement,  Justification  by  faith,  the  personality  and  in- 
dwelling of  the  Spirit,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and 
future  judgment. 

2.  Voluntary  avoidance  and  suppression  of  all  sectarian 
controversy  whether  with  tongue  or  pen.  If,  in  addition  to 
this,  there  could  be  an  interchange  of  pulpits,  and  the 
barriers  which  fence  off  the  Lord's  table  could  be  broken 
down,  so  that  there  might  be  a  recognition  of  all  true 
preachers,  and  a  fellowship  of  all  true  believers  in  the 
breaking  of  bread,  some  of  the  most  conspicuous  hin- 
drances to  practical  and  visible  unity  would  be  removed. 

3.  Devotional  conferences  and  meetings  for  fellowship 
might  be  m.ost  helpfully  multiplied.  In  Britain  the  external 
barriers  to  unity  are  very  exclusive.  The  Anglican  Church 
is  an  establishment,  and  the  non-conformists  are  not  only 
ecclesiastically  but  socially  under  the  ban.  The  assump- 
tions of  Anglican  episcopacy  seem  to  many  the  more  mon- 
strous, because  bolstered  up  by  governmental  patronage. 
And  yet  it  is  remarkable  that  the  most  conspicuous  and 
effective  unifying  forces  for  bringing  disciples  into  line 
are  found  in  Britain.  The  annual  Keswick  conference 
takes  for  its  motto,  "  All  one  in  Christ  Jesus ;  "  and,  altho 
that  movement  originated  with,  and  is  still  mainly  sup- 
ported by,  Anglicans,  it  is  for  all  practical  purposes  one 


.MOVEMENT  TOWARD  CHURCH  UNION  201 

body  of  evangelical  believers.  Presbyterians,  like  Dr.  El- 
der Gumming  and  the  late  Mr.  McGregor,  Methodists  like 
Gregory  Mantle  and  Charles  Inwood,  Episcopalians,  like 
Webb-Peploe  and  Evan  H.  Hopkins,  Baptists,  like  F.  B. 
Meyer — all  are  equally  at  home,  there,  and  teach  with 
equal  acceptance  and  authority.  Here  is  a  union  of  be- 
lievers where  charity  does  not  degenerate  into  laxity. 
Besides  Episcopalians,  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  Bap- 
tists, Congregationalists,  Quakers,  there  are  a  few  non- 
descripts; it  might  be  difficult  to  define  just  Robert  Wil- 
son's or  J.  Hudson  Taylor's  denominational  position — so 
far  do  they  seem  above  all  these  narrow  landmarks.  But, 
because  they  so  conspicuously  exhibit  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit,  they  are  leaders  in  the  Keswick  movement.  But 
not  one  teacher,  connected  with  this  broad  fellowship  of 
disciples,  is  an  unsound  man  in  any  of  the  great  essen- 
tials to  which  we  have  already  adverted. 

4.  In  no  one  respect  is  church  unity  so  desirable  as  in 
mission  fields  and  mission  work.  The  foes  of  Christ, 
whatever  their  differences,  stand  together  in  their  opposi- 
tion to  the  Christian  faith.  There  is  no  break  in  their 
ranks.  They  mass  their  forces  to  break  down  and  defeat 
all  efforts  at  a  world's  evangelization  and  redemption. 
What  a  lamentable  blunder,  if  not  a  crime,  that  Chris- 
tian disciples  should  show  a  divided  front,  and  often  a 
dissentient  spirit,  even  in  missionary  operations ! 

This  subject  has  never  as  yet  been  considered  as  it  ought 
to  be.  After  the  Hawaiian  islands  had  been  wonderfully 
brought  into  the  fellowship  of  Christian  peoples,  a  new 
denomination  entered  the  islands  in  October,  1862 — over 
forty-three  years  after  the  brig  Thaddeus  sailed  from  Bos- 
ton with  the  memorable  seventeen  representatives  of  the 
American  board,  and  after  the  Presbyterians  and  Congre- 
gationalists of  America  had  been  for  nearly  half  a  century 
at  work  in  evangelizing  and  Christianizing  this  people — 


202  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Bishop  Staley,  with  his  two  presbyters  arriving  as  repre- 
sentatives of  an  EngHsh  mission  to  be  known  as  the  "  Re- 
formed CathoHc."  That  movement  has  ever  been  regarded 
by  unprejudiced  observers  as  one  of  the  most  unseemly  and 
intrusive  violations  of  denominational  comity  in  the  history 
of  missions.  One  has  only  to  read  Dr.  Anderson's  tem- 
perate treatment  of  the  matter  in  his  book  on  "  The  Ha- 
waiian Islands,"  to  see  the  exact  position  of  affairs. 

Here  was  a  land,  just  lifted  by  Christian  effort  out 
of  the  slough  of  a  barbarous  paganism,  and  taking  its 
place, — the  first  example  in  the  history  of  modern  mis- 
sions— as  a  newly  converted  nation  in  the  family  of 
Christian  peoples.  The  whole  unevangelized  world,  with 
its  thousand  millions  of  unsaved  souls,  was  waiting  for  the 
Gospel,  Was  there  not  room  enough  for  missionary  effort 
without  introducing  a  rival  sect  into  a  peaceful  Christian 
community?  The  members  of  this  mission  came,  not  to 
introduce  Christianity  to  ignorant  and  barbarous  savages, 
but  to  inoculate  denominational  controversy  upon  a  tree 
of  God's  own  planting.  They  came  to  a  people,  taught 
Christianity  in  its  simplest  evangelical  faith  and  forms, 
to  inaugurate  a  new  style  of  worship,  encumbered  with 
the  conventionalities  of  the  High  Church.  The  Protes- 
tant clergy  of  Honolulu — embracing  missionaries  and 
others — extended  a  fraternal  hand,  and  took  early  oppor- 
tunity to  invite  to  a  monthly  union  meeting  for  prayer,  one 
of  the  newly  arrived  brethren,  who,  after  consulting  his 
bishop,  made  a  reply  which  was  like  an  apple  of  discord 
thrown  into  the  circle  of  believers : 

"He  (the  bishop)  strengthened  my  own  opinion,  viz: 
that  it  would  be  inconsistent  in  a  clergyman  of  our  church 
to  attend  a  prayer  meeting  in  a  place  of  worship  belonging 
to  a  denomination  of  Christians  who  do  not  regard  episco- 
pacy of  divine  appointment." 

Here  was  the  keynote  of  the  new  mission :  a  refusal  to 


MOVEMENT  TOWARD  CHURCH  UNION  203 

meet  Christian  brethren;  everr  in  a  union  prayer  meeting, 
and  this  in  face  of  a  recently  converted  heathen  people, 
suggesting  to  them  irreconcilable  differences  between  be- 
lievers, on  points  not  affecting  salvation.  Moreover,  as 
these  newcomers  held  to  baptismal  regeneration,  they 
thought  it  right,  if  not  duty,  to  baptize  infants  wherever 
they  could,  without  regard  to  existing  relations  of  the 
parents  to  the  Protestant  churches  or  missionary  pastors. 
Confirmation,  by  a  bishop  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church, 
was  taught  as  necessary  for  all  true  believers,  and  as  the 
only  proper  qualification  for  "  the  blessed  sacrament  of  the 
altar." 

The  story  of  this  new  mission  is  a  sad  story  and  a  stain 
on  the  history  of  modern  missions.  It  introduced  an  ele- 
ment both  of  division  and  dissension  never  before  known, 
and  put  a  stumbling  block  before  newly  converted  natives. 
The  whole  mission  was  a  breach  of  the  courtesy  due  from 
one  Christian  body  to  another,  and  above  all,  in  the  mission 
field.  Here  was,  after  over  forty  years  of  battle  with 
paganism,  an  hour  of  conquest;  and  just  as  those  to  whom 
the  victory  belonged  were  taking  measures  to  secure  the 
spoils  of  battle  for  the  Lord  of  the  whole  Church,  a  small 
body  of  professed  allies  enter  the  field,  carrying  a  new 
banner,  and,  declining  practical  fellow.ship  with  those 
whose  self-sacrifice  has  w^on  the  day,  undertake  to  rally  the 
converts  under  their  standard!  When  a  like  movement 
began,  whose  object  was  to  send  a  bishop  and  six  presby- 
ters to  that  crown  of  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
Madagascar,  it  led  to  a  great  remonstrance  in  London, 
over  which  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  presided,  uttering 
words  which  deserve  to  be  pondered  by  every  true  dis- 
ciple.* 

We  have  no  disposition  to  override  the  conscientious 
scruples  of  brethren,  however  inexplicable  they  may  be  to 


*  See  Anderson's  Hawaiian  Islands,  358-9. 


204  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

us.  We  assert  for  ourselves  and  accede  to  others  fullest 
liberty  to  follow  conviction.  But  the  field  is  world-wide, 
and  Christian  unity  should  exhibit  itself  in  Christian 
courtesy  and  comity.  Where  any  body  of  disciples  are 
already  successfully  at  work,  let  other  Christian  bodies  not 
intrude,  unless  there  is  room  and  need  for  other  workers 
without  interference  or  overlapping.  To  meddle  with  the 
splendid  work  of  the  United  Presbyterians  in  the  Valley 
of  the  Nile,  the  Baptists  in  the  Karen  country,  the  Congre- 
gationalists  in  Turkey,  the  Episcopalians  in  Tinnevelly, 
would  be  alike  needless  and  harmful.  And  in  entering 
new  fields  like  Cuba  and  the  Philippines,  the  Sudan  and  the 
Upper  Kongo  basin,  can  there  not  be  amicable  conference 
beforehand  so  as  to  divide  up  the  territory  and  work  side 
by  side,  instead  of  setting  up  rival  missions  in  the  same 
narrow  district? 

While  there  is  much  ardent  talk  about  unity  here  is  a 
practical  way  of  living  out  Christian  charity  and  of  ex- 
emplifying and  exhibiting  love's  holy  law.  And  if  we 
may  venture  an  individual  opinion,  one  such  example  of 
the  actual  unity  of  love  is  worth  far  more  for  God's  glory 
and  man's  good  than  a  Church,  organically  one,  whose 
unity  is  at  the  price  of  a  concession  of  one  fundamental 
truth,  or  is  the  cloak  to  cover  internal  alienation  and  strife. 
So  far  as  we  hold  the  same  vital  truth  we  are  one ;  so  far  as 
we  work  together  without  friction,  our  unity  reaches  its 
highest  practical  result. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

ORGANIZATIONS  OF  CHRISTIAN  YOUNG  PEOPLE 

Human  progress  is  neither  rapid  nor  regular,  potent 
nor  permanent  for  good,  when  it  does  not,  in  some  way, 
educate  and  elevate  the  youth  of  the  race.  The  salt  that 
heals  the  waters  must  be  cast  in  the  springs  where  the  rills 
rise  and  whence  the  rivers  flow. 

Childhood  is  a  mirror,  catching  and  reflecting  the  im- 
ages of  whatever  surrounds  it — a  reflector  as  sensitive  to 
impression  and  injury  as  the  metallic  mirrors  of  the  an- 
cients. It  would  be  as  irrational  carelessly  to  spray  water, 
or,  worse  still,  a  corrosive  acid,  on  a  polished  steel  surface, 
expecting  to  efface  the  rust  which  no  scouring  will  remove, 
as  to  expose  childhood  to  needless  contact  with  evil,  and 
expect  to  find  no  lasting  injury  left  upon  the  delicate  sus- 
ceptible nature.  Youth  is  the  time  for  making  deep  and 
wholesome  impressions,  as  well  as  for  guarding  character 
from  injury!  What  a  golden  age  of  opportunity  for 
teaching — for  engrafting  lessons  from  that  best  of  books, 
that  uni'que  child's  book — the  Bible!  The  German  prov- 
erb quaintly  says  that  "  what  Johnnie  does  not  learn,  John 
never  learns."  The  mind  of  youth  "  receives  like  wax, 
but  retains  like  marble." 

The  youth  of  a  country  should  be  made  familiar  with 
the  highest,  noblest  ideals,  to  inspire  what  Schopenhauer 
would  call  the  'Will  to  live,  and  what  Nietzsche  would  call 
the  will  to  be  a  power.  To  will  to  live  unto  God,  and  to 
be  a  power  for  God  and  good,  is  the  mainspring  of  a  greats 
grand,  heroic  soul.     We  can  excuse  an  excess  of  zeal  and 

205 


2o6  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

jealousy  for  God,  but  not  vicious  excesses  or  even  apathy 
toward  goodness.  Better  a  violent  torrent  than  a  stagnant 
pool,  for  the  torrent,  once  controlled,  is  made  a  force  for 
good,  but  a  pool  is  always  and  only  a  breeder  of  poisonous 
malaria.  David  Brainerd  was  expelled  from  college  for 
telling  a  tutor  that  he  had  no  more  grace  than  the  chair 
he  sat  in,  but  the  impetuous  Brainerd  became  one  of 
the  saintliest  missionary  heroes  of  his  country.  It 
is  obvious  that,  without  some  work  of  God,  especially 
among  the  young,  we  should  not  have  had  the  existing 
state  of  intelligence  and  earnestness  in  any  departments 
of  service  to  God. 

A  recent  writer*  says :  "  With  reluctance  and  sor- 
row it  must  be  confessed  that  the  majority  of  Ox- 
ford and  Cambridge  undergraduates  are  without, 
or  profess  to  be  without,  any  religious  beliefs  at  all. 
There  are,  of  course,  many  exceptions.  Exceptions,  how- 
ever, they  remain ;  certainly  the  greater  number  are  Gallios 
so  far  as  the  Church  is  concerned."  Do  these  two  facts — 
that  modern  university  life  is  so  largely  tinctured  with 
German  rationalism,  and  that  so  many  skeptics  and  ag- 
nostics are  issuing  from  university  halls — stand  related  as 
cause  and  effect?  If  so,  then  the  influence  of  German 
thought  on  our  educational  life  is  deplorable.  But,  bless 
God,  there  have  been  educators  that  have  been  men  of 
faith,  and  they  have  raised  up  children  of  faith,  a  faith 
larger,  more  intelligent,  and  more  manly  than  that  which 
was  before  it.  The  Scudders,  Dwights,  Hodges,  Uphams, 
Waylands,  Judsons,  Osgoods,  Stevensons,  Spurgeons, 
Cairns,  Flints,  Wattses,  Storrs,  Christliebs,  Candlishes, 
Bernards,  Liddons,  have  not  been  headmasters  of  schools 
of  sickly  skepticism.  "  We  correctly  test  the  soundness 
of  a  system  of  thought  by  its  unforced  tendencies  in  the 

♦  The  Nineteenth  Century,  October,  1895,  "  The  Religion  of  Undergrad- 
uates." 


ORGANIZATIONS  OF  YOUNG  PEOPLE    207 

minds  of  studious  young  men,  for  a  teacher  is  better  known 
by  the  beUefs  and  Hves  of  his  pupils  than  by  the  manner  of 
man  that  he  himself  seems  to  be.  A  tree  is  known  by  its 
fruits." 

Family  life  also,  before  the  public-school  and  college 
touch  the  young  man  or  woman,  must  look  well  to  the 
child-life  and  its  development.  It  has  been  well  said  that 
the  feeling  with  which  one  administers  punishment  will 
generally  excite  in  the  child  a  corresponding  experience. 
If  the  parent  be  moved  by  anger,  anger  will  be  excited ;  if, 
by  affection  and  sorrow,  the  child  will  respond  in  sorrowful 
feelings ;  if  by  moral  convictions,  the  child's  conscience  will 
answer  back  again.  In  the  household,  first  impressions 
for  good  or  evil  are  received.  The  absence  of  discipline 
is  criminal,  for  it  implies  an  unformed  character;  but  the 
spirit  in  which  discipline  is  admonished  may  go  far  to 
determine  the  benefit  resulting. 

And  woe  be  to  the  church  that  has  no  warm  bosom  for 
the  young!  The  statistics  of  conversion  have  frequently 
been  gathered,  and  these  are  the  approximate  results  as 
taken  from  one  careful  report.  Out  of  a  thousand  Chris- 
tian people,  the  following  is  the  classification  as  to  the  age 
at  which  they  were  converted : 


isu  ycai  s  auu   uiiuci 

Over  20  and  up  to  30. . . 

208 

Over  30  and  up  to  40. . . 

69 

Over  40  and  up  to  50. . . 

19 

Over  50  and  up  to  60.  . . 

6 

Over  60  and  up  to  70. . . 

2 

Over  70  and  up  to  75. . . 

I 

These  figures  show  that  only  305  of  the  i,cxx)  were  con- 
verted after  the  age  of  20;  only  97  after  the  age  of  30; 
only  28  after  the  age  of  40 ;  only  9  after  the  age  of  50,  and 
only  3  after  the  age  of  60.  According  to  this  writer's 
knowledge,  the  earliest  age  at  which  conversion  occurred 


2o8  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

was  four  years,  as  was  the  case  with  a  minister  well  known 
over  all  the  world,  and  the  most  advanced  age  at  which 
conversion  took  place  was  75,  and  the  longest  time  spent 
in  the  Christian  life  was  80  years.  The  average  age 
at  conversion  is  19  1-2  in  this  list  of  a  thousand.  What 
an  argument  against  procrastination  and  in  favor  of  re- 
membering the  Creator  in  the  days  of  youth. 

In  view  of  such  facts  and  considerations,  it  is  quite  in- 
conceivable that  God  could  be  controlling  the  stupendous 
movements  of  modern  history,  and  yet  no  arousing  and 
arising  of  the  young  men  and  women  of  Christian  lands 
be  included  in  His  plan. 

What  do  we  find  ?[;  A  development  and  organization  of 
the  forces  of  youth,  never  before  known  or  imagined  in 
history. /fit  seems  as  tho  God,  foreseeing  the  last  great 
Armageddon  at  hand,  had  brought  forward  His  reserves 
— the  immense  battalion  of  young  men  and  women,  never 
before  massed  on  the  battlefield  of  the  ages!  And  this 
amazing  development  has  mostly  been  the  product  of  the 
last  fifty  years. 

Some  of  the  facts,  however  familiar,  demand  a  re- 
hearsal as  a  part  of  this  striking  history. 

We  begin  with  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- . 
elation,  whose  records  are  fresh  in  mind  from  the 
recent  Jubilee  celebration  in  1894.  Sir  George  Williams, 
its  founder  and  father,  still  lives,  and  tells  the  simple  story 
of  its  humble  beginning.  A  little  more  than  fifty  years 
ago,  he,  a  young  man  of  about  twenty-one,  spoke  to  an- 
other young  man  about  his  soul ;  this  conversation  led  to 
other  like  approaches ;  then  to  a  meeting  for  mutual  edifi- 
cation, Bible  study,  and  united  prayer ;  then  to  an  organiza- 
tion of  young  men  for  these  purposes  in  what  is  now  the 
great  mercantile  house  of  Hitchcock,  Williams  &  Co.,  in 
London ;  then  to  similar  organization  in  neighboring  mer- 
cantile houses,  and  finally  to  a  meeting  of  their  representa- 


ORGANIZATIONS  OF  YOUNG  PEOPLE    209 

tives,  and  the  formation  of  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  for  the  city  of 
London.  A  thought  so  manifestly  of  God  could  not  be 
hid  or  confined  within  narrow  bounds.  It  proved  con- 
tagious— it  spread  across  the  sea,  it  became  the  seed 
thought  of  such  associations  over  all  the  English-speaking 
world;  it  reached  out  to  the  continent  of  Europe;  it  sent 
out  its  branches  round  the  globe,  until  now  the  aggregate 
membership  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  is  numbered  by  millions, 
and  there  is  not  a  prominent  land  or  nation,  Christian  or 
heathen,  which  has  not  a  representative  organization  of 
young  men  belonging  to  the  world-wide  fellowship.  Its 
conventions  have  passed  city,  state,  and  national  limits, 
and  have  become  international  and  cosmopolitan. 

Here  is  an  astounding  modern  development.  Never 
before  had  young  men  been  thus  brought  to  the  front, 
united  in  Bible  study  and  Christian  work,  magnifying  the 
essentials  of  Christian  faith,  fraternizing  in  forgetfulness 
of  lesser  divergencies,  and  aiming  specifically  at  the  rec- 
lamation of  young  men. 

To  this  organization  may  be  directly  traced  the  origin 
of  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  the  United 
States  Christian  Commission^  so  active  in  the  late  war  for 
American  unity,  and  especially  that  college  association 
work  which  has  already  given  us  the  Student  Volunteer 
Missionary  Union,  and  started  the  new  crusade  in  mis- 
sions. All  this  and  more  within  the  half  century!  Well 
may  we  exclaim,  What  hath  God  wrought ! 

This  Student  Volunteer  movement,  which,  beginning  at 
Cambridge  in  1885  and  at  Mt.  Hermon,  Mass.,  in  1886, 
is  now  but  about  fifteen  years  old,  has  enrolled 
probably  nearly  10,000  young  men  and  women  in  its 
i^inks  from  the  beginning  until  now,  and  has  sent  nearly 
one- tenth  of  its  recruits  to  the  field.  In  1897,  the  member- 
ship in  Great  Britain  had  reached  about  1,400  and  be- 
tween 300  and  400  were  already  engaged  in  mission  work. 


210  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

A  memorial  from  tliis  body  of  students  was  then  before  the 
missionary  secretaries  and  the  ministers  of  Christ  in  Brit- 
ain, praying  them  to  unite  in  suppHcation  to  God  that  the 
lack  of  gifts  might  not  be  suffered  to  hinder  their  going 
forth  to  the  field!  Surely  this  was  a  new  development, 
when  young  men  and  women,  offering  for  missionary 
service,  entreated  the  church  not  to  embarrass  their  work 
for  the  lost  race  of  man  by  withholding  money  from  the 
treasuries  of  God. 

Rapid  as  has  been  the  spread  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  the 
Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  outruns  it. 
This  latest  form  of  the  great  organizations  of  youth  out- 
strips all  competitors  in  the  race  and  encircles  the  world. 

Let  Rev.  F.  E.  Clark,  D.  D.,  the  President  of  the  United 
Society,  tell  his  own  story  of  the  origin  of  this  movement, 
now  twenty  years  old. 

In  the  winter  of  1880-81  a  revival  spirit  visited  the  Williston 
Church,  of  Portland,  Maine,  and  many  young  people  gave  their 
hearts  to  God.  The  pastor  and  older  church  members,  naturally 
anxious  concerning  these  young  disciples,  felt  that  great  wisdom 
and  care  were  necessary  to  keep  them  true  to  the  Savior  during  the 
first  critical  years  of  their  discipleship.  The  problem  weighed 
heavily  upon  their  minds,  for  they  felt  that  neither  the  Sunday 
School,  nor  the  church  prayer-meeting,  nor  the  young  people's 
prayer-meeting,  tho  all  well-sustained,  admirable  in  their  way, 
were  sufficient  to  hold  and  mold  the  Christian  character  of  these 
young  converts.  There  was  a  gap  between  conversion  and  church 
membership  to  be  filled,  and  all  these  young  souls  were  to  be 
trained  and  set  at  work.  How  should  these  things  be  done? 
These  were  the  pressing  problems.  After  much  prayer  and 
thought,  the  pastor  invited  the  recent  converts  and  young  church 
members  to  his  house,  February  2,  1881,  and  after  an  hour  of 
social  intercourse,  presented  a  constitution,  previously  drawn 
up,  of  the  "  Williston  Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  En- 
deavor." This  is  essentially  the  same  as  that  adopted  by  the 
great  majority  of  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor  at  the  present 
day. 


ORGANIZATIONS  OF  YOUNG  PEOPLE    211 

Some  three  years  later,  at  the  request  of  one  of  the  national 
conventions,  with  the  aid  of  Rev.  S.  W.  Adriance,  the  originator  re- 
vised the  constitution  and  framed  the  by-laws,  adding  various 
committees  as  they  now  appear  in  the  "  Model  Constitution." 
But  the  essential  features  of  the  work  were  in  the  first  constitu- 
tion :  the  definition  of  the  object,  the  two  classes  of  members,  the 
"  prayer-meeting  pledge  "  (the  most  important  part  of  the  con- 
stitution), the  consecration  or  experience  meeting,  the  roll-call, 
the  provision  for  dropping  members,  and  the  three  main  com- 
mittees, are  provisions  which  are  all  found  in  the  first  constitu- 
tion. 

Thus  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  born  of  a  revival, 
was  the  outcome  of  a  real,  felt  necessity  of  training  and  guiding 
aright  the  young  Christians  who  might  otherwise  stray  away.  It 
was  a  mere  experiment,  in  the  first  place,  and  little  credit  is  due 
to  the  originator,  except  for  an  effort  to  train  his  own  young 
people  in  the  Christian  life,  an  effort  always  made  by  every  true 
pastor.  To  his  delight,  and  somewhat  also  to  his  surprise,  nearly 
all  the  young  people  who  assembled  at  his  house,  on  the  2d  of 
February,  signed  the  constitution  containing  the  stringent  prayer- 
meeting  clause,  and  they  lived  up  to  it.  The  young  people's 
meeting  took  a  fresh  start ;  the  spiritual  life  of  the  members  was 
intensified;  their  activities  were  very  greatly  enlarged;  and,  so 
far  as  they  were  concerned,  the  problem  of  leading  them  to  con- 
fess Christ  with  their  lips,  of  setting  them  at  work  and  keeping 
them  at  work,  seemed  to  be  solved.  When  that  pastor  also  found 
that  in  many  other  churches  the  same  efforts  accomplished  the 
same  results,  he  began  to  feel  that  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  in  it. 
The  first  knowledge  of  this  experiment  given  to  the  world  was 
contained  in  an  article  published  in  the  Congregationalist,  of 
Boston,  in  August,  1881,  entitled  "  How  One  Church  Cares  for 
its  Young  People."  This  article,  and  others  which  followed  it, 
at  once  brought  letters  from  pastors  and  Christian  workers  in  all 
parts  of  the  country.  First  they  came  singly,  then  in  pairs,  and 
then  in  scores,  almost  every  day,  and  they  have  kept  coming,  in 
constantly  increasing  numbers,  ever  since.  One  of  the  first  pas- 
tors to  introduce  this  system  of  Christian  nurture  among  his 
young  people  was  Rev.  C.  A.  Dickinson,  then  pastor  of  the  Sec- 
ond Parish  Church  of  Portland,  and  no  small  share  of  the  success 
of  the  movement  has  been  due  ever  to  his  wisdom  and  counsel. 
The  first  society  in  Massachusetts  was  established  in  Newbury- 


212  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

port,  Mass.,  by  Rev.  C.  P.  Mills,  in  the  same  year  that  the  move- 
ment originated.  He  has  also  ever  since  been  one  of  the  staunch 
friends  of  the  cause;  while  another  gentleman,  who  soon  threw 
himself  into  the  movement  with  characteristic  energy,  was  Rev. 
James  L.  Hill,  then  of  Lynn.  The  first  President  of  the  United 
Society,  Mr.  W.  J.  Van  Patten,  of  Burlington,  Vt,  was  one  of 
the  first  to  recognize  the  potency  of  the  movement.  The  first 
man  who  signed  the  constitution,  at  his  pastor's  house,  on  that 
winter  evening  in  1881,  was  Mr.  W.  H.  Pennell,  teacher  in  the 
Williston  Sunday-school  of  a  large  class  of  young  men.  He  took 
this  step,  perhaps,  as  much  to  help  his  boys  as  for  any  other  rea- 
son. The  national  convention  honored  his  early  devotion  to  the 
work  by  choosing  him  for  three  successive  years  its  President. 

So  far  as  careful  search  reveals,  the  distinctive  features  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Movement,  the  strict  prayer-meeting  pledge, 
the  consecration  meeting,  the  roll-call,  the  variety  of  committee 
work,  and  the  duties  of  these  committees,  are  characteristic  of 
this  organization  alone. 

Thus,  at  first,  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  grew  appar- 
ently as  it  were  by  chance.  Wherever  one  of  the  winged  seeds  of 
information  was  wafted,  it  usually  "  struck  "  and  took  root,  and  a 
little  Christian  Endeavor  plant  was  the  result;  or,  as  some  one 
wittily  expressed  it,  "  The  Society  was  contagious,  like  the 
measles;  if  one  church  had  it,  the  church  next  to  it  was  pretty 
sure  to  catch  it  also." 

For  some  years  little  was  done  in  a  systematic  or  organized  way 
to  establish  societies.  One  of  the  first  developments  of  the  new 
work  was  naturally  in  the  line  of  annual  conventions.  Those  in- 
terested were  not  content  to  work  out  the  problem  for  themselves, 
they  must  come  together  and  tell  each  other  what  great  things 
the  Lord  had  done  for  them.  The  first  of  these  conferences  was 
held  June  2d,  1882,  in  the  Williston  Church,  Portland,  Maine. 
But  six  societies  were  recorded  then.  In  these  were  48:  mem- 
bers, the  Williston  Society  leading  off  with  168. 

The  Second  Annual  Conference  was  held  in  Portland,  June  7, 
1883.  A  large  growth  over  the  preceding  year  was  noted,  tho 
statistics  were  obtained  from  only  fifty-three  societies  with  2,630 
members.  Of  these  fifty-three  societies  the  report  says  five  were 
organized  in  1881,  twenty-one  in  1882,  and  twenty-seven  in  the 
first  five  months  of  1883,  showing  what  an  impetus  to  the  work 
was  given  by  the  little  convention  of  the  year  before.    Seventeen 


ORGANIZATIONS  OF  YOUNG  PEOPLE  213 

of  these  societies'  were  found  in  Maine*  eleven  in  Massachusetts, 
forty-one  in  all  New  England;  while  of  the  other  twelve,  five 
were  in  New  York,  and  the  rest  scattered  throughout  the  West, 
a  very  large  one  being  found  in  Oakland,  Cal.  After  this  conven- 
tion the  society  grew  rapidly  and  steadily,  but  did  not  call  an- 
other national  convention  until  October  22,  1884,  when  it  convened 
in  Lowell.  This  was  a  two  days'  session,  and  a  large,  enthusi- 
astic meeting. 

By  the  time  the  national  convention  of  1885  met,  July  9th  ajid 
loth,  at  Ocean  Park,  Maine,  the  society  had  grown  to  embrace 
253  similar  societies,  with  14,892  members  in  all  parts  of  the 
country.  They  had  begun  to  be  reported  in  foreign  lands  also, 
even  in  Foochow,  Honolulu,  and  other  mission  fields.  From 
this  convention  the  work  received  a  marvellous  impulse,  and 
everywhere  the  churches  began  to  establish  societies.  In  1887, 
at  the  Saratoga  convention,  Dr.  Clark  was  chosen  President  of 
the  United  Society,  and  editor  of  Christian  Endeavor  literature; 
he,  in  the  following  autumn,  resigning  the  pastorate  of  Phillips 
Church,  Boston,  to  accept  the  position. 

Unions  existed,  by  the  year  1888,  in  nearly  all  the  States  of 
the  Union,  and  local  unions  in  hundreds  of  places ;  and  under  the 
blessing  of  God,  the  one  society  of  1881  has  grown  to  the  myr- 
iads of  the  present  time,  with  their  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
members  in  America,  and  many  added  thousands  in  Great  Britain 
and  all  missionary  lands. 

In  his  letter  of  acceptance  the  President  of  the  United  Society 
formulated  certain  principles  which  he  presented  to  the  societies 
as  conditions  on  j^rhich  he  accepted  their  call.  These  principles, 
adopted  by  many  influeaitial  State  conventions  and  local  unions, 
may  fairly  be  considered  the  platform  on  which  the  society 
stands,  and  are  therefore  here  embodied : 

Platform  of  Principles. 

"  1st.  The  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  is  not,  and  is  not  to 
be,  an  organization  independent  of  the  church.  It  is  the  church 
at  work  for  and  with  the  young,  aind  the  young  people  at  work 
for  and  with  the  church.  In  all  that  we  do  and  say  let  us  bear 
this  in  mind,  and  seek  for  the  fullest  cooperation  of  pastors  and 
church  officers  and  members  in  carrying  on  our  work.  The 
Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  can  always  afford  to  wait  rather 
than  force  itself  upon  an  unwilling  church. 

"2nd.  Since  the  societies  exist  in   every  evangelical   denom- 


214  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ination,  the  basis  of  the  union  of  the  societies  is  one  of  common 
loyalty  to  Christ,  common  methods  of  service  for  Him,  and 
mutual  Christian  affection,  rather  than  a  doctrinal  and  ecclesias- 
tical basis.  In  such  a  union  all  evangelical  Christians  can  unite 
without  repudiating  or  being  disloyal  to  any  denominational  cus- 
tom or  tenet. 

"  3d.  The  purely  religious  features  of  the  organization  shall 
always  be  paramount.  The  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  cen- 
ters about  the  prayer-meeting.  The  strict  '  prayer-meeting 
pledge,'  honestly  interpreted,  as  experience  has  proved,  is  es- 
sential to  the  CONTINUED  succcss  of  a  Society  of  Christian  En- 
deavor. 

"4th.  The  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  sympathizes  with 
temperance  and  all  true  moral  reforms,  with  wise  philanthropic 
measures,  and  especially  with  missions  at  home  and  abroad;  yet 
it  is  not  to  be  used  as  a  convenience  by  any  organization  to 
further  other  ends  than  its  own. 

"  5th.  The  finances  of  the  Society  shall  be  managed  econom- 
ically, in  acordance  with  the  past  policy  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, and  the  raising  of  funds  to  support  a  large  number  of  paid 
agents  or  Christian  Endeavor  missionaries,  either  in  connection 
with  the  United  Society  or  the  State  Unions,  is  not  contemplated. 
In  winning  our  way,  we  can  best  depend  in  the  future,  as  in  the 
past,  upon  the  abundant  dissemination  of  our  literature,  and 
on  the  voluntary  and  freely  given  labors  of  our  friends,  rather 
than  upon  the  paid  services  of  local  agents. 

"  The  expenses  of  the  central  office  will  be  largely  for  the  pub- 
lication of  literature  and  for  the  expenses  of  our  General  Sec- 
retary in  the  field.  In  raising  very  large  sums,  and  employing 
many  agents  for  whose  work  the  United  Society  will  be  re- 
sponsible, and  yet  which  it  cannot  to  any  great  extent  control, 
we  shall  run  the  risk  of  losing  the  sympathy  of  the  churches. 
There  is  little  danger  that  the  society  will  not  grow  with  suf- 
ficient rapidity,  if  every  member  does  his  best  to  make  known 
our  principles.  Let  it  be  our  chief  concern  that  our  growth 
shall  be  as  strong  and  substantial  as  it  is  rapid.  In  all  State 
and  local  work  the  society  can  best  rely  upon  the  zeal  and  gen- 
erosity of  its  friends,  hundreds  of  whom,  both  laymen  and  minis- 
ters, are  willing  freely  to  lend  their  aid  to  our  cause. 

"  6th.  The  State  and  local  unions  and  the  individual  societies 
and  members  will  heartily  uphold  the  United  Society,  its  officers 


ORGANIZATIONS  OF  YOUNG  PEOPLE  215 

and  trustees,  with  their  sympathies  and  prayers  (and  their  ma- 
terial support  so  far  as  necessary), and  hampering  and  destructive 
criticism  of  well-meant  efforts  are  not  deemed  accordant  with 
Christian  Endeavor  principles." 

That  this  historic  review  should  bring  the  story  of  this 
remarkable  movement  down  to  present  date,  we  add  a  few 
brief  items. 

In  1884,  the  first  Junior  Endeavor  Society  was  formed. 
In  1888,  Dr.  Clark's  journey  to  England  greatly  stimu- 
lated the  progress  of  Christian  Endeavor  there.  "Christian 
Endeavor  Day,"  the  society's  anniversary,  first  became  a 
fixture  during  this  year.  In  1892,  the  convention  was  held 
in  New  York  City,  and  attended  by  35,000,  with  a  large 
representation  from  foreign  lands,  Hindus,  Chinese,  and 
native  Africans  being  among  the  speakers.  Within  a  few 
weeks  after  this  convention,  Dr.  Clark,  with  his  wife  and 
son,  set  out  on  a  round-the-world  journey,  both  to  organ- 
ize the  work,  and  to  study  the  conditions  to  which  the 
Endeavor  Society  must  adapt  itself,  and  its  capacity  and 
adaptability  to  them.  This  journey  covered  nearly  40,000 
miles.  Over  350  addresses  were  made  by  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Clark  before  aggregate  audiences  of  100,000.  Twelve  na- 
tions were  visited,  and,  through  interpreters,  addresses 
were  made  in  upwards  of  twenty  different  tongues.  This 
journey  was  conspicuous,  especially  for  its  incidental  con- 
nection with  the  foreign  mission  interest,  which  it  natu- 
rally served  to  create  or  quicken.  It  emphasized  fellow- 
ship among  the  nations,  and  the  brotherhood  of  the  race 
in  sin,  need,  and  redemption,  and  ever  since  then  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  has  been  linked  with  the 
world-field  in  sympathy,  prayer,  and  giving.  At  Boston, 
in  1895,  56,000  delegates  registered,  and  about  650,000 
attended  the  825  different  meetings  of  the  convention. 
Thirteen  different  countries  or  peoples  of  the  world,  from 
England  to  Japan,  and  Alaska  to  Africa,  were  represented 


II 6  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

and  a  World's  Christian  Endeavor  Union  formed,  and  a 
"  prayer  chain  "  now  merged  into  the  "  quiet  hour." 

On  Jan.  i,  1900,  the  following  is  the  official  enrollment, 
worth  preserving  and  comparing  with  the  records  of  nine- 
teen years  before: 

The  total  number  of  societies  is  48,305,  of  which  7,172 
are  in  foreign  lands,  and  a  total  membership  of  2,800,000. 

Surely  God  has  some  great  mission  for  this  vast  host  of 
united  young  men  and  women.  If  we  might  venture  to 
suggest  to  this  great  army  of  Christian  Endeavorers  seven 
grand  things  to  be  kept  in  the  very  foreground  as  secrets 
of  success,  we  should  unhesitatingly  say : 

1.  First  of  all.  Set  the  Lord  always  before  you.  All  life 
of  holiness  or  power  absolutely  depends  on  the  supremacy 
of  God  in  the  character  and  conduct — a  real  elevation  of 
Him  to  the  first  place.   Matt,  vi,  33.   All  else  is  idolatry. 

2.  Beware  of  pride  of  numbers.  Power  is  not  depend- 
ent on  multitude  or  even  organization.  God  often  works 
mightily  by  the  few,  who  do  not  forget  individual  duty  and 
responsibility,  and  depend  on  the  Holy  Spirit. 

3.  Guard  the  habit  of  closet  prayer.  Matt,  vi,  6. 
Nothing  else  so  determines  the  true  character  as  the  vision 
of  God  in  the  secret  place  (Numbers  vii,  89)  and  in  His 
Word. 

4.  Regard  yourselves  as  stewards  of  God,  in  trust  with 
time,  talents,  money,  and  opportunity.  Use  all  for  him. 
Aim  at  a  Scriptural  standard  of  giving.         2  Cor.  viii,  9. 

5.  Abide  in  your  calling  with  God.  Every  honest  and 
honorable  work  is  a  divine  calling,  a  sphere  of  Christian 
Endeavor.    Take  God  as  your  partner,    i  Cor.  vii,  20,  24. 

6.  Lose  your  own  will  in  the  will  of  God.  Ps.  xl,  8. 
This  is  the  soul  of  all  true  Christian  Endeavor.  Be  con- 
tent to  be  simply  His  instruments. 

7.  Serve  your  own  generation  by  the  will  of  God.     Acts 


ORGANIZATIONS  OF  YOUNG  PEOPLE     217 

xiii,  36.  Wherever  you  are,  be  a  missionary,  and  set  be- 
fore you  to  do  your  utmost  to  bring  the  Gospel  into  con- 
tact with  every  human  soul. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

WORLD-WIDE  UPRISING  OF  CHRISTIAN  STUDENTS 

We  have  already  noticed  the  rapidity  of  movement,  no- 
ticeable in  modern  civilization,  which  invades  the  realm  of 
mind  as  well  as  of  matter.  Every  enterprise  seems  to  go 
on  wheels,  or  if  steam  or  electricity  were  harnessed  to  it. 
There  is  something  abnormal  in  the  tremendous  pace  at 
which  men  are  moving.  Haste  is  waste.  Hurry  implies 
worry.  There  is  risk  of  losing  deliberation;  of  doing 
things  precipitately,  and  superficially ;  the  calm  of  God  can 
not  be  known  in  the  excitement  inseparable  from  such 
driving  energy.  A  swift-sailing  steamer,  plowing  through 
the  waves  at  twenty-five  knots  an  hour,  creates  a  commo- 
tion in  air  and  sea  as  it  goes — it  makes  a  storm  if  it  meets 
none. 

One  modern  development  has  outrun  almost  any  other, 
and  yet  so  real  has  been  its  progress,  that  we  marvel 
whether  its  apparent  sagacity  and  success  are  not  due  to 
a  special  divine  supervision,  and  its  momentum,  to  Him 
to  whom  one  day  is  as  a  thousand  years.  We  re- 
fer to  the  remarkable  onward  and  upward  move- 
ment of  the  Christian  young  men  of  our  higher  educational 
institutions,  the  advance  of  which  has  been  so  rapid  and 
yet  so  regular,  so  swift  and  yet  so  sure,  so  sudden  and  yet 
so  permanent ;  and,  while  under  the  guidance  of  the  young, 
so  exhibiting  the  wisdom  associated  with  age  and  ex- 
perience, that  we  are  compelled  to  look  upon  it  as  a 
spiritual  movement — a  marshaling  of  human  forces  under 
divine  generalship;  and  to  look  behind  it  to  the  Divine 

218 


UPRISING  OF  CHRISTIAN  STUDENTS  219 

force  that  alone  can  account  for  much  that  is  taking  place 
before  our  eyes. 

In  this  uprising  of  Christian  students  several  distinct 
stages  are  noticeable :  First  of  all,  the  introduction  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  into  the  universities 
and  colleges  of  Christian  lands;  then  the  organization  of 
these  associations  into  a  national  and  international  alliance ; 
then  the  extension  of  such  associations  in  the  higher  educa- 
tional centers  of  foreign  and  heathen  lands.  Simultane- 
ously with  these  came  the  era  of  conventions,  summer 
schools,  etc.,  bringing  these  young  men  together,  and  ce- 
menting the  bonds  of  personal  fellowship.  Then  The  Stu- 
dent Volunteer  Movement,  appearing  in  the  Cam- 
bridge Band  of  1885  and  the  Mt.  Hermon  Band  of  1886, 
and  exerting  immense  influence  in  the  direction  of  the  for- 
eign field.  Then  followed  the  grand  scheme  of  cooperation 
— whereby  the  Christian  students  in  mission  countries  are 
to  act  as  a  home  missionary  contingent,  for  the  uplifting 
of  their  own  countrymen,  under  the  lead,  or  with  the  help, 
of  Christian  students  from  America  and  Europe.*  And 
now  comes  the  last  of  these  great  strides — the  "  World's 
Student  Christian  Federation."  f 

As  the  first  Y.  M.  C.  A.  was  organized  in  1844,  this 
whole  history  reaches  over  only  about  a  half  century ;  and 
it  may  be  doubted  whether  another  movement  so  varied, 
vast,  far  reaching,  and  important,  has  marked  any  half-cen- 
tury of  history  before. 

To  look  carefully  at  the  latest  feature  of  this  great  en- 
terprise— the  federating  of  the  young  men  of  the  world 
into  one  great  organization,  and  marshaling  them  under 
the  Banner  of  the  Cross,  will  be  to  survey  the  whole  move- 
ment from  its  loftiest  summit. 

In   August,    1895,   on   the   shores   of   Lake   Wettem, 


♦  *'  New  Program  of  Missions." 

t  "  Strategic  Points  in  the  World's  Conquest." 


220  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

and  within  the  old  Swedish  Castle  of  Vadstena,  a  gather- 
ing of  students  was  held,  which  has  well  been  compared 
to  that  famous  Haystack  prayer  meeting  on  Williams'  Col- 
kg^e  Hill,  near  the  banning  of  the  century,  which  was 
the  starting  point  of  organized  missionary  woric  on  this 
side  of  the  sea. 

This  Scandinavian  Congress  met  to  consider  the  ex- 
pediency of  uniting  the  national  intercollegiate  movements 
of  the  whole  world  in  one  great  federation,  for  three  great 
ends :  first,  to  associate  Christian  students  of  all  lands  more 
closely ;  second,  to  enable  them  more  deeply  to  impress  na- 
tional as  well  as  social  and  university  life;  and  third,  to 
influence  fellow  students  to  take  up  definite  mission  worl^ 
at  home  and  abroad. 

At  this  conference  the  five  great  intercollegiate  organi- 
zations had  their  representatives:  The  American  Inter- 
coll^iate  Y.  M.  C.  A.;  the  British  College  Christian 
Union;  the  German  Christian  Students'  Alliance;  the 
Scandinavian  University  Christian  Movement;  and  the 
Student  Christian  Movement  in  Mission  Lands.  After 
days  of  prayer  and  holy  conference,  the  constitution  was 
unanimously  adopted,  by  which  the  World's  Student 
Christian  Federation  came  to  be  a  historic  fact.  The 
momentous  importance  attached  to  this  new  step  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  no  other  student  convention 
ever  had  been  held  in  which  del^^tes  from  all  the  great 
Protestant  powers  were  present,  and  of  this  the  impressive 
grouping  of  the  respective  flags  of  all  these  nations  was  the 
outward  s3rmbol  and  expression. 

The  name  adopted  is  itself  a  history.  It  tells  of  a  student 
movement,  distinctly  Christian  and  world-embracing  in 
membership  and  aim.  It  is  a  federation  rather  than  a 
union,  each  previously  existing  organization  keeping  in 
the  federal  bond  its  own  individual  and  independent  char- 
acter.   The  great  coinprehensive  object  is  to  combine  all 


UPRISING  OF  CHRISTIAN  STUDENTS  221 

the  available  forces  of  the  universities  and  colleges  of  the 
world  in  the  many-sided  work  of  winning  educated  young 
men  for  Christ,  building  them  up  in  Him,  and  sending 
them  out  as  workers  for  Him. 

The  Federation  being  formed,  other  organizations 
joined  it:  The  Intercollegiate  Y.  M.  C.  A.  of  India  and 
Ceylon ;  the  Australian  Student  Christian  Union ;  the  Stu- 
dents' Christian  Association  of  South  Africa;  the  College 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  of  China,  the  Student  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Union 
of  Japan,  etc. 

Certain  ends  must  be  directly  promoted,  such  as : 

1.  The  full  investigation  of  the  exact  moral  and  re- 
ligious status  of  students  in  every  part  of  the  world. 

2.  The  gradual  and  rapid  improvement  and  development 
of  all  that  is  best  in  young  manhood. 

3.  The  introduction  into  new  and  different  fields,  of  or- 
ganized Christian  activity  under  favorable  conditions. 

4.  The  promotion  of  a  living  bond  of  sympathy  among 
all  educated  Christian  young  men. 

5.  The  cultivation  of  a  spirit  of  united  prayer  and  sys- 
tematic Bible  study. 

6.  The  study  and  development  of  that  important  science 
of  comparative  humanity — or  young  manhood  in  various 
conditions. 

7.  The  penetration  and  permeation  of  college  life  with 
an  evangelical  and  missionary  spirit. 

Gladstone  remarked  that  in  the  middle  ages  the  uni- 
versities "  established  a  telegraph  for  the  mind,  and  all  the 
elements  of  intellectual  culture  scattered  throughout  Eu- 
rope were  brought  by  them  into  near  communion.  They 
established  a  great  brotherhood  of  the  understanding." 
This  federation  establishes  "  a  telegraph  in  things  spiritual 
—a  great  student  brotherhood  in  Jesus  Christ." 

No  one  can  watch  this  work  without  feeling  God  to  be 


222  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

behind  it,  and  rejoicing  in  its  unifying  power.  Not  only 
does  it  both  simplify  and  unify  methods  of  work  among 
students,  but  brings  Christian  young  men  everywhere  to 
recognize  that  oneness  in  Christ  Jesus  which  must  ever 
exist  between  true  disciples,  and  will  be  seen  and  felt 
whenever  the  accidents  of  external  separation  and  division 
are  no  longer  allowed  to  have  prominence.  National  and 
denominational  barriers  will  be  forgotten,  as  young  men 
who  belong  to  Christ  in  different  lands  and  churches  come 
together,  federated  into  unity,  to  magnify  only  essentials 
and  remand  nonessentials  to  their  true  place.  True  Chris- 
tians need  only  to  know  each  other  to  love  each  other ;  and 
the  devil  triumphs  whenever  by  any  of  his  devices  he  can 
keep  them  from  mutual  and  sympathetic  contact.  Already 
so  far  as  relates  to  Christian  educated  young  men,  there  is 
"  no  more  sea ;  "  the  barriers  of  language  do  not  divide,  and 
the  national  names  are  forgotten  in  the  Christian  name. 
Christ  is  in  these  days  anew  slaying  the  old  enmity  by  his 
cross,  and  of  Himself  making  one  new  man,  not  of  twain 
only,  but  of  a  multitude  of  hitherto  alienated  and  estranged 
bodies. 

The  student's  federation  already  blends  into  organized 
unity  students  belonging  to  over  seventy  branches  of 
Christ's  church,  thus  approaching  the  fulfillment  of  our 
Lord's  prayer,  "  that  they  all  may  be  one,  that  the  world 
may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me?  "  This  federation  is 
destined  perhaps  to  be  a  grand  means  of  promoting  world- 
wide faith  in  the  messiahship  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

The  ultimate  object  which  the  Lord  has  in  view  in  this 
unifying  process  is  thus  a  world's  evangelization.  Never 
since  apostolic  days  have  the  duty,  privilege,  possibility, 
and  feasibility  of  actually  carrying  to  the  whole  world  the 
message  of  salvation  within  the  lifetime  of  one  generation, 
been  obvious  to  so  many  disciples.  The  work  of  evangeli- 
zation is  a  campaign,  and  the  universities  and  colleges  are 


UPRISING  OF  CHRISTIAN  STUDENTS  223 

the  strategic  points  which  must  be  seized  and  held  as  com- 
manding the  field,  and  determining  the  "  line  of  communi- 
cation." 

The  young  men  in  our  educational  institutions  are  to  be, 
and  that  very  soon,  the  leaders  of  the  nations.  Our 
schools  are  the  cradles  of  the  coming  princes,  and  whether 
they  are  to  rule  for  God  or  for  Satan,  must  soon  be  de- 
termined. If  the  Japanese  maxim,  telegraphed  to  the 
Northfield  Conference  of  young  men  in  the  summer  of 
1899,  ^^Make  Jesus  King  ! "  becomes  the  motto  of  the 
leading  educational  centers  of  the  world,  with  what  unex- 
ampled rapidity  will  the  earth  be  encompassed  with  the  net- 
work of  missions,  and  every  creature  reached  with  the 
good  news ! 

All  these  movements  are  the  visible  working  of  an  invis- 
ible power.  What  has  taken  place  between  the  organiza- 
tion of  young  men  for  Christian  service  in  1844,  and  the 
Federation  of  Christian  Students  fifty  years  later,  shows 
a  supernatural  hand.  When  less  than  twenty-five  years 
ago  the  American  Intercollegiate  Y.  M.  C.  A.  was  in- 
augurated, less  than  thirty  college  associations  were  to  be 
found  in  the  United  States  and  Canada.  Twenty-three 
years  later,  in  about  six  hundred  and  forty  higher  educa- 
tional institutions  within  the  same  territory,  these  Chris- 
tian associations  are  rooted,  and  embrace  over  thirty-three 
thousand  students  and  professors,  and  nearly  as  many  stu- 
dents have  been  led  to  Christ  by  this  means ;  so  that  instead 
of  one  in  three,  there  are  about  one-half  of  the  students 
confessing  Christ.  Twelve  thousand  students  are  enrolled 
in  the  voluntary  Bible  classes  of  these  associations,  hav- 
ing multiplied  fourfold  in  ten  years.  About  five  thousand 
young  men  have  been  led  into  the  ministry;  a  still  larger 
number  having  given  their  lives  to  foreign  missions,  over 
sixteen  hundred  of  whom  are  on  the  foreign  field.  Dr. 
Roswell  D.  Hitchcock  had  already  recognized,  before  his 


224  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

death  some  years  since,  that  the  great  fact  in  the  religious 
Hfe  of  the  college  was  the  "omnipresence,"  and  he  felt 
half  inclined  to  add,  the  ''  omnipotence,"  of  the  Intercol- 
legiate Y.  M.  C.  A. 

Only  six  or  seven  years  ago  the  British  College  Christian 
Union  began  its  real  work.  At  first  seventeen  universities 
and  colleges  were  united  in  it.  Three  or  four  years  later 
it  embraced  one  hundred  other  organizations,  and  every 
considerable  institution  in  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  was  identified  with  it.  Not  only  has 
there  been  this  rapid  increase  in  quantity,  but  the  quality  of 
the  work  done  has  been  correspondingly  enriched.  Bible 
circles,  private  Bible  study,  aggressive  work  among  stu- 
dents at  the  outset  of  their  college  career,  personal  and 
faithful  dealing  with  the  young  men,  and  the  actual  win- 
ning of  multitudes  to  Christ — these  are  among  the  marked 
signs  of  genuineness  in  the  activity,  and  spirituality  in  the 
methods  employed. 

There  has  been  a  missionary  spirit  at  work — the  infal- 
lible token  of  God's  Spirit.  The  Student  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Union  has  become  the  mother  of  the  Student  Volun- 
teer Missionary  Union.  When  this  latter  organization  was 
formed,  there  were  about  three  hundred  expectant  mis- 
sionaries among  the  British  college  students ;  in  1897  that 
number  had  been  multiplied  over  fourfold,  and  out  of  these 
twelve  hundred  over  one-fourth  were  already  in  the  for- 
eign field.  The  Student  Missionary  Convention,  held  in 
Liverpool  in  January  1896,  was  unsurpassed  in  spiritual 
power  by  any  missionary  meeting  of  our  century.  A 
thousand  young  men  and  women  met  for  the  purpose  of 
organized  effort  to  evangelize  the  world  in  their  generation, 
and  the  meeting  was  presided  over  and  conducted  wholly 
by  young  men.  Cambridge  and  Oxford — the  very 
ganglia  of  the  educational  system  and  life  of  the  British 
Empire — are  now  embraced  in  this*missionary  uprising,  as 


UPRISING  OF  CHRISTIAN  STUDENTS  225 

well  as  the  great  university  centers  of  Scotland,  Wales,  and 
Ireland,  and  4;hus  the  molds  of  the  future  leaders  of  the 
Church  and  State  are  becoming  God's  own  matrices  of 
character. 

Germany  has  exercised  a  mighty  and  dangerous  influ- 
ence on  modern  religious  thinking.  The  German  mind  is 
masculine,  original  and  profound  and  persistent  in  re- 
search, but  secular  and  sceptical  in  tendency,  often  not  only 
rationalistic  but  materialistic.  Germany  has  been  the 
seedsower  of  religious,  as  France  has  been  of  scientific, 
scepticism.  What  a  triumph  for  Christ,  when  the  Ger- 
man students  form  a  Christian  alliance,  form  Bible  circles, 
seek  to  promote  personal  purity  and  evangelical  faith 
among  young  men,  and  do  in  a  large  and  pervasive  way 
among  students  at  large,  what  the  lamented  Christlieb 
did  at  Bonn — infuse  the  spirit  of  simple  faith.  The  Liver- 
pool Convention  sent  home  delegates,  anointed  with  spirit- 
ual power  and  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  danger  and 
deadness  of  mere  religious  formalism,  to  kindle  God's  fires 
on  the  altars  of  Germany,  and  sow  the  seeds  of  missionary 
consecration.  A  year  or  two  later  there  were  over  thirty 
student  volunteers  in  German  institutions,  the  influence 
daily  spreading.  In  the  twenty-one  universities  of  that 
great  European  empire  there  are  over  thirty  thousand  stu- 
dents, with  twenty-five  hundred  instructors,  and  this  uni- 
versity army  ranks  next  to  the  military  force  in  influence 
and  power.  Can  we  afford  to  neglect  the  opportunity  of 
turning  this  vast  host  of  educators  and  educated  into  the 
defense  of  the  faith  which  otherwise  they  may  undermine 
and  assault  ?  All  great  spiritual  movements,  like  all  great 
sceptical  influences,  are  ultimately  traceable  to  these 
thought-centers ;  and  here  at  ,the  springs  the  salt  must  be 
cast  in  if  the  waters  are  to  be  healed. 

This  movement,  which  embraced  Britain  and  Germany, 
has  also  penetrated  Scandinavia.    In  August,  1895,  Not- 


226  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

way  and  Sweden,  Denmark  and  Finland,  united  in  an 
inter-university  organization.  The  Scandinavian  universi- 
ties rank  very  high  in  popular  favor,  and  are  open  to  all 
classes.  They  are  the  higher  schools  for  the  masses;  and 
yet  their  standards  are  very  high,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  a  full  medical  course  consumes  a  decade  of  years. 
These  students  are  physically  and  intellectually  worthy  of 
their  Norsemen  ancestors,  and  to  turn  such  strong  men 
into  sturdy  disciples  is  worth  any  amount  of  eifort  and 
sacrifice. 

Then  there  is  the  student  body  of  papal  lands.  A  popu- 
lation of  thirty  millions  in  Italy,  with  about  sixty  thousand 
Protestants;  about  eighty  educational  institutions  with 
twenty-five  thousand  students,  and  not  one  Christian  or- 
ganization !  ■  Is  not  this  appalling  ?  The  first  Christian 
association  was  formed  at  Torre  Pellice,  the  historic  center 
of  the  Waldensian  Church  that  for  six  centuries  has  stood 
out  firmly  against  Romish  intrigue  and  persecution. 
France,  Austria,  Hungary,  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  Bel- 
gium are  included  in  the  scheme  of  the  Students'  Christian 
Federation,  and  the  one  hundred  and  thirteen  thousand 
young  men  of  the  seven  papal  lands  of  the  Continent  are 
to  be  saved,  if  possible,  from  the  drift  of  scepticism,  and 
agnosticism,  and  materialism,  and  sensualism,  to  which 
they  are  terribly  exposed. 

The  earnest  spirit  of  those  who  are  at  the  head  of  this 
world  movement,  can  not  be  restrained  within  the  bounds 
of  one  continent  or  two.  They  are  reaching  out  the  hand 
of  help  to  the  remoter  East.  Turkey  is  not  forgotten, 
where  Robert  College  furnishes  so  admirable  a  center  of 
operations.  This  Christian  institution  on  the  shores  of 
the  Bosphorus  has  sent  forth  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  graduates.  It  has  furnished  teachers  for  Bulgaria  and 
Armenia;  it  has  drawn  students  from  fourteen  nationali- 
ties, and  sent  many  of  them  back  as  missionaries  to  their 


UPRISING  OF  CHRISTIAN  STUDENTS  227 

own  people;  and  it  has  been  happily  compared  with  the 
noble  Syrian  College  at  Beirut,  the  Duff  College  at  Cal- 
cutta, and  the  earlier  days  of  the  Doshisha  at  Japan. 

Greece,  with  its  historic  Athens  and  its  thirty-five  hun- 
dred students  is  included;  Syria,  with  its  sacred  sites; 
Nazareth  and  Jerusalem  are  to  be  Y.  M.  C.  A.  centers; 
and  Beirut,  whose  college  has  practically  created  the  med- 
ical profession  in  the  Levant,  and  supplied  the  educated 
class  for  the  whole  territory  round  about  Palestine,  and 
whose  printing  press  to-day  sends  its  unrivaled  Arabic  Bi- 
bles throughout  the  Arabic-speaking  world,  with  its  hun- 
dred and  fifty  million  people.  Is  it  of  no  consequence  to 
bring  the  young  men  of  these  countries  into  living  contact 
with  holy  fruits  of  Christian  culture  in  the  Occident,  and 
lead  them  to  a  pure  faith  and  a  dedicated  life? 

Look  again  at  the  Nile  Valley.  One  theological  college, 
founded  by  the  United  Presbyterians  at  Cairo,  has  sup- 
plied all  the  ordained  native  ministers  of  Egypt.  The 
training  college  at  Asyut  has  four  hundred  students,  and 
has  educated  five  times  as  many,  and  most  of  its  graduates 
have  become  teachers  or  preachers  of  the  Gospel.  So  high 
do  these  Christian  schools  stand  in  even  the  government's 
esteem  that  its  own  schools  have  been  largely  modeled 
thereby.  Here  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  has  been  organized.  Is  not 
this  a  true  strategic  center  for  the  world  campaign?  The 
followers  of  Mohammed  think  so,  as  the  great  University 
of  El  Azhar,  with  its  seven  thousand  students  from  all 
parts  of  the  realm,  swayed  by  the  green  flag  of  the  cres- 
cent, sufficiently  proves.  It  has  a  nine  years'  course  of 
study,  and  is,  on  the  whole,  the  greatest  propaganda  in 
the  world. 

The  new  century  is  to  reveal  Christian  work  among 
the  students  of  all  lands.  Especially  will  India  have  a 
strategic  value  as  a  center  both  of  activity  and  influence. 
Here  meetings  have  been  held  by  scores  by  Mr.  Mott,  the 


t2§^  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

proceedtngi  all  m  the  Eagliib  tong^ne,  and  the  tide  el 
iptrstual  awakening  ri«is^  ftcadtfy  to  llie  last.  One  fMS- 
dred  and  twenty  edtscatiooal  tnstttistiofM  were  reprcicflted, 
and  the  total  number  of  ittidenU  registered  wai  tevcB 
hundred  and  fifty-nine,  or,  induding  Ctylon,  orer  one 
thousand.  Three  hundred  and  deren  intsNoaaries,  rqifc- 
senting  nearly  all  the  sixty  societies  at  work  in  India,  were 
in  attendance.  Seventy-six  students  accepted  Christ  ae 
Savior  and  Lord,  in  face  of  terrible  obstacles,  and 
dred  and  twenty-seven  delegates  volunteered  for 
service  in  India.  Five  hundred  and  seventy-seven  cove- 
nanted to  keep  the  morning  watch  of  Bible  study  and 
prayer. 

China  had  its  series  of  conferences,  at  which  over  twdve 
hundred  of  the  educated  class  of  students  or  teachers  were 
present.  All  but  two  of  the  higher  institutions  sent  dele- 
gates. Four  hundred  and  eleven  missionaries  were  pres- 
ent, and  thirty-seven  missionary  societies  were  represented. 
The  total  number  of  regular  delegates  at  the  four  confer- 
ences,— Chefoo,  Peking,  Shanghai,  and  Foochow — reached 
three  thousand,  and  came  from  the  ends  of  the  empire. 
The  meetings  revealed  a  constantly  rising  tide  of  interest 
and  power.  Eight  hundred  pledged  to  keep  the  morning 
watch;  over  one  hundred  serious  inquirers,  seventy-seven 
volunteers  for  Christian  work,  and  general  tokens  of  a 
great  spiritual  awakening  were  among  the  notable  signs 
of  God's  hand.  The  number  of  Y.  M.  C.  A.  was  multi- 
plied fivefold ;  steps  were  taken  towards  a  national  organ- 
ization, and  the  college  Y.  M.  C.  A.  of  China  was  formed 
in  November,  1896,  and  at  once  admitted  to  the  Federa- 
tion ;  and  thus  the  great  land — the  Gibraltar  of  the  Orient, 
where  the  population  embraces  one-fourth  of  the  whole 
race  of  man  now  living,  where  the  combination  of  diffi- 
culties is  the  most  appallingly  formidable,  where  the  pos- 
sibilities are  correspondingly  great,  the  great  land  of  which 


UPRISING  OF  CHRISTIAN  STUDENTS  229 

Napoleon  said,  "  When  China  is  moved  it  will  change  the 
face  of  the  globe," — was  visited  by  Mr.  Mott,  with  most 
cheering  tokens  of  God's  presence  and  power. 

We  add  a  comprehensive  resume  of  the  whole  work  03 
presented  in  Mr.  Mott's  Round  the  World  Tour. 

During  twenty  months  60,000  miles  were  included,  and 
twenty-two  countries,  and  one  hundred  and  forty-four 
educational  institutions.  Twenty-one  conferences  were 
held,  with  fifty-five  hundred  delegates,  of  whom  thirty- 
three  hundred  were  representatives  of  three  hundred  and 
eight  institutions  of  learning;  seventy  students'  Christian 
associations  were  organized,  and  many  more  reorganized 
or  reinvigorated.  Five  national  student  Christian  move- 
ments were  promoted,  and  much  other  work  was  done  in- 
cidental to  the  creation  of  a  literature  of  devotion  and  hab- 
its of  holy  living  and  praying.  Over  five  hundred  young 
men  were  led  to  acceptance  of  the  Savior,  including  stu- 
dents who  had  been  Buddhists,  Brahmans,  Confucianists, 
and  Mohammedans,  Agnostics,  and  Sceptics.  Some 
twenty-two  hundred  pledged  themselves  to  the  "  morning 
watch,"  and  about  three  hundred  gave  their  lives  to  defi- 
nite work  for  Christ.  The  greatest  result  of  all  is  one 
that  can  not  be  put  on  paper,  or  tabulated  in  statistics.  A 
great  world-wide  volume  of  interest,  sympathy,  prayer, 
was  created,  which,  like  ocean  tides  and  trade  winds,  has 
a  strange  power  of  far-reaching  communication  and  in- 
fluence, and  is  likely  to  be  a  permanent  and  increasing 
factor  in  both  the  unification  of  disciples  and  the  evan- 
gelization of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  CITY  EVANGELIZATION 

The  familiar  phrase,  "  The  Church  and  the  masses," 
suggests,  perhaps,  the  most  perplexing  question  of  the 
home  field :  What  can  be  done  to  get  hold  of  the  great  bulk 
of  our  city  population  who  now  attend  no  church?  The 
late  Dr.  John  Hall  quaintly  observed  that  "  in  Britain  the 
population  is  divided  between  churchmen  and  dissenters; 
in  America  between  church-goers  and  absenters." 

Pope,  angling  for  a  compliment,  after  he  had  published 
his  "  Essay  on  Man,"  asked  Mallet  what  new  things  there 
were  in  literature,  and  the  reply  was,  "  O,  nothing  worth 
notice — only  a  poor  thing  called  an  '  Essay  on  Man,'  made 
up  of  shocking  poetry  and  insufferable  philosophy."  "  I 
wrote  it,"  cried  Pope,  stung  with  rage,  and  Mallet  darted 
out  of  the  room,  abashed  at  his  blunder  in  thus  offending 
its  author  unawares. 

The  Church  is  practically  writing  an  "  essay  on  man  " 
which,  it  is  to  be  feared,  is  not  very  honoring  to  the  Master 
or  His  disciples.  It  is  a  patent  fact  that  for  half  a  century 
there  has  been  a  constantly  widening  gulf  between  the 
Church  and  the  mass  of  the  people.  Candor  compels  the 
admission  that  there  has  been  little  systematic  effort  to 
gather  in  the  non-church-goers,  or  even  to  provide  accom- 
modations for  them,  for  not  more  than  one-fifth  of  our 
city  population  attend  church,  and  not  more  than  one- 
third  could  find  sittings,  if  they  wanted  them.  Candor 
likewise  compels  the  concession  that  the  responsibility  for 
church  neglect  lies  largely  at  the  door  of  Christian  dis- 

230 


PROBLEM  OF  CITY  EVANGELIZATION    231 

ciples.  Church  buildings  are  transferred  to  fashionable 
localities,  and  if  any  work  is  carried  on  in  the  deserted 
quarters,  it  is  done  in  mission  chapels,  which  suggest  an 
invidious  distinction,  and  foster  a  caste  spirit.  Churches 
that  were  once  greatly  blessed  of  God  in  gathering  in  the 
people,  are  even  now  consolidating  and  moving  "  up 
town,"  both  decreasing  the  number  of  church  buildings  in 
proportion  to  the  population,  and  removing  from  the  quar- 
ters where  the  greatest  need  exists.  The  fashionable 
church,  with  its  rich'  surroundings,  large-salaried  pastor, 
costly  choir,  etc.,  is  not  intended  for  the  poor,  and  they 
know  it,  and  do  not  feel  at  ease,  and  will  not  come. 

In  former  days  a  large  part  of  the  ministers  in  New 
England  had  small  salaries,  and  eked  out  a  subsistence  by 
farming.  If  they  were  not  so  learned  or  eloquent  as  the 
ministers  of  our  day,  they  were  linked  closely  with  the 
people,  and  the  churches  were  full,  and  revivals  were  fre- 
quent. Have  not  our  modern  churches  too  much  taken 
on  the  cast  of  the  religious  club,  their  buildings  becom- 
ing the  resort  of  those  who  can  afford  the  luxuries  of 
the  club-house?  Can  we  blame  the  poverty-stricken  mul- 
titude for  having  the  impression  that  they  are  outcasts,  in 
the  very  nature  of  things,  from  these  elaborate  temples 
with  their  elegant  garniture  and  furniture? 

There  are  many  more  things  that  might  in  honesty  be 
added  as  to  the  actual  and  undeniable  causes  of  the  pres- 
ent estrangement  between  the  churches  and  the  common 
folk.  The  Gospel,  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  love  of  souls, 
are  just  as  mighty  to-day  as  ever,  and,  if  these  were  really 
depended  on,  and  practically  operative,  the  churches 
would  regain  and  retain  hold  on  the  people. 

Our  present  purpose  is  to  call  attention  to  three  practical 
examples  of  actual  success  in  reaching  the  common  folk — 
three  examples,  each  of  which  presents  the  subject  from  a 
different  point  of  view:  Thomas  Chalmers  in  Glasgow, 


232  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Charles  H.  Spurgeon  in  London,  and  John  Wanamaker  in 
Philadelphia. 

Chalmers  may  be  called  the  parish  evangelist.  He  is 
especially  worthy  of  a  permanent  record,  as  one  of  the  men 
who  led  the  way  in  the  practical  solution  of  that  great 
problem  of  our  civilization :  '"  How  to  deal  with  the  masses 
in  our  great  cities."  At  his  sixty-fifth  year  we  find  this 
greatest  of  Scotchmen  on  fire  with  all  his  youthful  ardor, 
in  this  mission  to  the  masses  in  Edinburgh,  where,  as  in 
Ephesus,  the  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones  of  the  sacred 
fanes  and  palaces  were  in  strong  contrast  to  the  wood, 
hay,  stubble  of  the  huts  and  hovels  of  the  poor.  With  sub- 
lime devotion  Chalmers  at  this  advanced  age,  when  most 
men  retire  from  active  and  arduous  toil,  entered  upon  the 
most  difficult  experiment  of  his  life,  that  he  might  demon- 
strate by  a  practical  example  what  can  be  done  for  the  poor 
and  neglected  districts  in  a  great  metropolis. 

The  West  Port,  in  the  "  old  town  "  of  Edinburgh,,  was 
the  home  of  a  population  whose  condition  may  be  de- 
scribed by  two  words,  poverty  and  misery.  He  undertook 
to  redeem  this  heathen  district  by  the  Gospel,  planting  in 
it  schools  and  a  church  for  the  people,  and  organizing 
Christian  disciples  into  a  band  of  voluntary  visitors.  The 
name  "  territorial  system  "  was  attached  to  the  plan  as  he 
worked  it,  and  has  passed  into  history  under  that  sonorous 
title.  In  St.  John's  Parish,  Glasgow,  he  had  already 
proved  the  power  of  visitation  and  organization.  Within 
his  parochial  limits  he  found  two  thousand  one  hundred 
and  sixty-one  families,  eight  hundred  and  forty-five  of 
them  without  any  seats  in  a  place  of  worship.  He  assigned 
to  each  visitor  about  fifty  families.  Applications  for  relief 
were  dealt  with  systematically,  and  so  carefully,  yet  thor- 
oughly, that  not  a  case  either  of  scandalous  allowance  or 
scandalous  neglect  was  ever  made  known  against  him  and 
his  visitors.    There  was  a  severe  scrutiny  to  find  out  the 


\  6  R  A /Ty 

IKSITT 
PROBLEM  OF  CITY  EVANGELi:^^^ON    2^^^ 

fact  and  the  causes  of  poverty,  to  remove  necessary  want, 
and  remedy  unnecessary  want  by  removing  its  cause.  The 
bureau  of  intelligence  made  imposture  and  trickery  hope- 
less, especially  on  a  second  attempt.  And  not  only  was 
poverty  relieved,  but  at  a  cost  which  is  amazingly  small. 
While  in  other  parishes  of  Glasgow  it  averaged  two  hun- 
dred to  every  thousand  of  the  population,  and  in  many 
parishes  of  England  it  averaged  a  pound  for  every  inhab- 
itant; in  St.  John's  it  was  but  thirty  pounds  for  one  thou- 
sand people. 

It  was  an  illustration  of  heroism,  in  these  modern  times, 
when  a  man,  past  threescore  years,  whose  public  career, 
both  with  his  pen  and  tongue,  had  made  him  everywhere 
famous,  gave  up  his  latter  days  to  elevate  the  physical, 
mental,  moral  and  spiritual  condition  of  a  squalid  population 
in  an  obscure  part  of  the  modern  Athens.  His  theory  was 
that  about  four  hundred  families  constitute  a  manageable 
town  parish,  and  that  for  every  such  territorial  district 
there  ought  to  be  a  church  and  a  school,  as  near  as  may 
be,  free  to  all.  This  district  in  West  Port  contained  about 
this  number  of  families,  which  were  sub-divided  into 
twenty  "  proportions,"  each  containing  some  twenty  fam- 
ilies. 

A  careful  census,  taken  by  visiting,  revealed  that,  of  four 
hundred  and  eleven  families,  forty-five  were  attached  to 
some  Protestant  church,  seventy  were  Roman  Catholics, 
and  two  hundred  and  ninety-six  had  no  church  connection. 
Out  of  a  gross  population  of  two  thousand,  one  thousand 
five  hundred  went  to  no  place  of  worship,  and  of  four  hun- 
dred and  eleven  children  of  school  age,  two  hundred  and 
ninety  were  growing  up  entirely  in  ignorance.  It  is  a 
curious  fact  that  these  four  hundred  and  eleven  families 
averaged  one  child  each  of  appropriate  age  for  school,  and 
that  of  these  four  hundred  and  eleven  children  there  were 
about  as  many  growing  up  untaught  as  there  were  fam- 


234  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ilies  without  church  connection.  This  careful  compilation 
of  statistics  revealed  that  the  proportions  of  ignorance  and 
non-attendance  at  church  correspond  almost  exactly;  in 
other  words,  families  that  attend  a  place  of  worship  com- 
monly send  children  to  school,  and  the  reverse. 

Another  fact  unveiled  by  this  effort  at  city  evangeliza- 
tion was  that  about  one-fourth  of  the  inhabitants  of  this 
territory  were  paupers,  receiving  out-door  relief,  and  one- 
fourth  were  habitual,  professional  beggars,  tramps, 
thieves,  and  riffraff. 

Here  was  a  field,  indeed,  for  an  experiment  as  to  what 
the  church  could  do  in  her  mission  among  the  masses. 
Chalmers  was  hungry  for  such  an  opportunity;  it  stirred 
all  his  Scotch  blood.  So  he  set  his  visitors  at  work.  But 
he  did  not  himself  stand  aloof.  Down  into  the  "  wynds," 
and  alleys,  and  "  closes  "  of  West  Port  he  went ;  he  pre- 
sided at  their  meetings,  counseled  the  people  sympathetic- 
ally, identified  himself  with  the  whole  plan  in  its  forma- 
tion and  execution,  while  his  own  contagious  enthusiasm 
and  infectious  energy  gave  stimulus  to  the  most  faint- 
hearted. He  loved  to  preach  to  these  people,  not  less  than 
to  the  most  elegant  audiences  of  the  capital,  or  the  elect 
students  of  the  university.  He  would  mount  into  a  loft 
to  meet  a  hundred  of  the  poorest  as  gladly  as  ascend  the 
pulpit  of  the  most  fashionable  cathedral  church,  crowded 
with  the  elite  of  the  world's  metropolis.  And  those  ragged 
boys  and  girls  hung  on  his  words  with  characteristic  ad- 
miration. 

Two  years  of  toil,  with  the  aid  of  Rev.  W.  Tasker,  en- 
abled Dr.  Chalmers  to  open  a  new  free  church  in  this 
district ;  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered,  and  out  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty-two  communicants,  one  hundred 
were  trophies  of  the  work  done  by  him  and  his  helpers  in 
that  obscure  district.  With  a  prophetic  forecast  Chalmers 
saw  in  this  success  the  presage  of  greater  possibilities,  and 


PROBLEM  OF  CITY  EVANGELIZATION    235 

a  practical  solution  of  the  problem  of  city  evangelization, 
and  hence  he  confessed  it  was  the  joy  of  his  life  and  the 
answer  to  many  prayers. 

The  plan  pursued  by  Dr.  Chalmers  was  not  at  all  like 
the  modern  evangelistic  services — an  effort  spasmodic,  if 
not  sporadic;  preaching  for  a  few  weeks  in  some  church 
edifice  or  public  hall  or  tabernacle,  and  then  passing  into 
some  other  locality,  leaving  to  others  to  gather  up  results 
and  make  them  permanent.  From  the  most  promising 
beginnings  of  this  sort,  how  often  have  we  been  compelled 
to  mourn  that  so  small  harvests  have  been  ultimately 
gleaned!  He  organized  systematic  work  that  looked  to 
lasting  results.  The  plowman  and  the  sower  of  seed  also 
bore  his  sickle,  and  watched  for  the  signs  of  harvest.  And 
whenever  the  germs  of  a  Divine  life  appeared  they  were 
nurtured,  cherished,  guarded,  and  converts  were  added  to 
the  church,  set  at  work,  kept  under  fostering  care,  and  not 
left  to  scatter,  wander  at  will,  or  relapse  into  neglect. 

As  to  his  mode  of  dealing  with  pauperism,  the  sagacious 
Chalmers  saw  that,  while  a  ministry  of  love  to  the  poor, 
sick,  helpless  was  a  first  necessity,  it  would  be  unwise  and 
hurtful  to  their  best  interests  to  encourage  them  to  depend 
on  charity.  The  church  must  not  be  an  asylum  in  which 
indolence  and  incompetence  and  improvidence  should  take 
refuge.  The  poorest  must  be  educated  to  maintain,  rather 
than  to  sacrifice,  self-respect,  and  compelled  to  form  and 
maintain  habits  of  self-help,  industry,  economy,  thrift.  In- 
stead of  clothing  the  poor  with  the  half-worn  garments  of 
the  better  class,  he  would  have  them  taught  to  save  money 
worse  than  wasted  on  tobacco,  drink,  and  vicious  indul- 
gence, and  buy  their  own  garments.  And  the  results  of 
this  wise  policy  were  seen  in  the  gradual  and  rapid  im- 
provement in  appearance  of  the  attendants  at  church — 
rags  gave  way  to  respectable  raiment,  which  was  not  the 
cast-off  clothing  of  their  betters. 


236  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Chalmers  had  no  less  ambition  than  to  ameliorate  and 
finally  abolish  pauperism,  and  his  success  in  St.  John's 
Parish,  Glasgow,  had  proven  that  he  was  master  of  the 
situation;  and  no  one  can  tell  what  results  might  have 
followed  but  for  the  Poor  Law^  enacted  in  1845,  which,  by 
the  admission  of  a  statutory  right  to  public  relief,  en- 
courages improvidence,  weakens  family  ties  among  the 
poor,  conduces  to  a  morbid  satisfaction  with  a  state  of 
dependence,  and  thus  sows  the  seed  of  the  very  pauperism 
it  professes  to  relieve  and  reduce. 

Charles  H.  Spurgeon  met  with  the  greatest  success  of 
any  man  of  our  century  in  gathering  the  common  people 
about  him  and  holding  them  for  over  forty  years.  His 
methods  were  totally  diverse  from  those  of  Chalmers.  He 
was  too  busy  with  his  pen,  and  too  remote  in  residence 
from  the  mass  of  his  adherents,  and  too  frail  in  bodily 
health,  to  do  a  work  of  parish  visitation,  or  go  himself 
among  the  people.  Spurgeon's  power  lay  in  the  preaching 
of  a  plain,  searching,  rousing  Gospel  message.  He  was  less 
the  teacher  than  the  preacher.  Others  have  excelled  him 
in  pulpit  exposition  and  systematic  exegesis,  as  did  Adolph 
Saphir,  and  as  Alexander  McLaren  does  to-day.  But  few 
men  ever  excelled  him  in  the  power  to  preach  the  Gospel 
so  as  to  lay  hold  of  mind,  heart,  conscience,  and  will. 
Some  attribute  his  success  to  his  humor,  or  his  mimicry, 
or  his  dramatic  power,  or  his  simplicity  of  character ;  but 
the  real  secret  was  deeper :  Spurgeon  preached  as  a  man 
who  believed  his  message  and  meant  to  make  others  be- 
lieve it;  as  one  who  loved  Christ  and  rejoiced  in  Him,  and 
meant  to  constrain  others  to  love  and  rejoice  in  Him.  And 
all  the  rest  was  but  accessory  to  this,  his  main  method.  He 
practised  no  art  but  the  divine  art  of  earnestness,  and  his 
whole  soul  was  on  fire  with  his  message.  The  conspicuous 
absence  of  all  studied  artistic  aid  was  most  undeniable. 

The  Metropolitan  Tabernacle  building  was  immense, 


PROBLEM  OF  CITY  EVANGELIZATION    237 

but  there  was  no  decoration.  It  was  built  simply  to  hold 
the  people  and  enable  everybody  to  see  and  hear  with  com- 
fort, and  from  four  thousand  to  six  thousand  assembled 
there  every  Lord's  Day,  morning  and  evening.  There 
was  nothing  but  congregational  singing  led  by  a  precentor, 
and  not  even  a  pretense  to  fine  music,  no  organ  or  choi;;, 
not  even  modern  popular  hymns  and  songs.  But  the  peo- 
ple went  and  kept  going,  and  they  were  the  common  folk 
— the  rich  were  comparatively  the  few,  and  so  were  the 
cultivated ;  the  bulk  of  Spurgeon's  congregation  was  com- 
posed of  the  poor,  the  unlettered,  the  humble  folk  of  the 
great  metropolis. 

We  turn  now  to  John  Wanamaker,  whom,  being  still 
living,  it  would  be  indelicate  to  compliment  or  praise. 
Bethany  Church  in  Philadelphia,  whoever  may  have  been 
its  pastors,  owes  mainly  to  Mr.  Wanamaker  whatever  it 
is  as  a  church  of  the  people,  and  we  know  of  no  instance 
so  conspicuous  in  America  of  success,  carried  on  for  over 
forty  years,  in  reaching  the  masses  of  the  common  people. 
The  secret  here  is  somewhat  unlike  that  of  either  Chalmers 
or  Spurgeon.  The  origin  of  this  work  was  peculiar,  and 
it  has  stamped  the  whole  history  with  its  likeness.  There 
has  never  been  an  essential  deviation  from  the  primary 
and  original  purpose,  which  was  to  reach  people  who  had 
no  church  home. 

At  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  organization  of 
Bethany  Church,  in  1885,  Mr.  Wanamaker  himself  told 
the  history  of  the  enterprise,  reluctantly  because  he  was 
necessarily  so  conspicuous  in  it.  But  it  was  a  thrilling 
story. 

On  a  February  afternoon  in  1858,  he,  with  Mr.  Toland, 
a  missionary  of  the  Sunday-school  Union,  began  a  mission- 
school  in  a  second  story  back  room  on  Pine  street.  Driven 
out  of  this  first  room  by  the  rowdies  of  the  neighborhood, 
they  tried  again  on  South  street,  and  at  the  first  session 


238  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

gathered  twenty-seven  children  and  two  women,  besides 
Mr.  Wanamaker  and  Mr.  Toland.  To-day  in  that  huge 
Sunday-school  building  between  two  thousand  and  three 
thousand  children  and  adults  gather  every  Sunday  after- 
noon, while  Mr.  Wanamaker's  own  Bible-class  fills  the 
spacious  adjoining  church.  Bethany  has  a  membership  of 
over  three  thousand,  and  the  people  never  tire  of  going 
there.  The  Gospel  is  preached ;  but  there  is  another  secret : 
the  people  are  loved  and  sought  and  made  at  home.  They 
are  taught  that  the  whole  of  this  great  institutional  church 
is  for  them,  their  home,  and  that  everybody  is  there  made 
welcome  for  his  own  sake,  and  not  for  the  sake  of  his 
money,  his  learning,  his  social  status,  his  business  influence, 
his  ability  to  help,  or  his  external  surroundings.  Here  is 
a  model  institutional  church,  and  its  history  and  methods 
are  well  worthy  of  study. 

For  over  forty  years  Bethany  Church  has  demonstrated 
that  the  common  people,  and  in  great  multitudes,  can  be 
got  hold  of  and  kept  hold  of,  and  that  success  is  not  spas- 
modic and  uncertain,  but  permanent  and  uniform.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1899,  the  writer,  a  former  pastor,  went  there  to 
speak  at  an  anniversary  of  the  Bible  Union,  spending  a 
Sabbath  with  his  former  flock.  He  attended  and  addressed 
nine  meetings,  which  filled  the  day  from  an  early  hour  of 
the  morning  until  the  close  of  the  evening  service.  It  was 
a  day  of  hard  rain,  and  most  church  buildings  would  have 
been  two-thirds  empty.  Bethany  was  well  filled.  There 
were  little  children's  meetings,  and  services  for  all  ages 
and  classes.  Bible  study  was  the  one  marked  employment 
and  enjoyment.  There  were  fellowship  and  brotherhood 
meetings,  all  bright,  cheery,  sunny,  helpful.  Mr.  Wana- 
maker was  ubiquitous — he  was  everybody's  friend,  cordial 
and  hearty,  simple  and  accessible  to  all.  No  one  would 
suppose  that  he  was  an  ex-postmaster-general  and  a  rnil- 
lionaire,  conducting  business  on  a  scale  almost  unparalleled. 


PROBLEM  OF  CITY  EVANGELIZATION    239 

He  was  as  thoroughly  free  from  airs  or  assumptions,  as 
tho  he  were  the  common  workingman  from  the  carpenter's 
bench  or  the  shoemaker's  shop.  Forty  years  of  unique 
success  in  his  own  business  and  the  Lord's  business,  which 
he  seeks  to  make  practically  one,  have  not  made  him  any 
less  the  man  of  the  people,  and  the  humble  believer  in  the 
Christ.  All  his  genius  for  organization  has  been  turned 
into  the  Lord's  work  at  Bethany.  His  great  Bible  class 
numbers  well  on  to  2,000,  and  it  is  divided  into  centuries 
of  one  hundred  each,  with  a  centurion  at  the  head,  and 
these  into  companies  of  ten,  with  a  titheman  at  the  head_, 
The  tithemen  keep  track  of  attendance,  collect  the  offer- 
ings, and  take  oversight  of  the  physical  and  spiritual  well- 
being  of  the  little  bands  under  their  care.  If  there  be  sick- 
ness, the  sick  are  cared  for,  and  if  in  any  one  band  there  is 
more  illness  than  that  band  can  manage,  other  bands  come 
to  their  help.  By  this  simple  system  of  diversion,  every- 
body is  kept  track  of,  and  feels  the  influence  of  oversight. 
Men,  women,  and  children  feel  themselves  to  be  somebody 
because  somebody  else  takes  interest  in  their  welfare. 

There  is  scarce  a  night  in  the  week  when  something  is 
not  going  on  at  Bethany.  The  people  learn  to  associate 
church  life  with  everything  that  is  helpful  and  attractive. 
The  channel  is  always  open  to  the  popular  current,  and  the 
current  flows  that  way.  Prayer  meetings  are  thronged; 
and  so  is  every  other  sort  of  service.  And  around  Bethany 
gather  lay  college  savings  bank,  deaconesses'  house,  book- 
room,  and  whatever  encourages  frugality,  charity,  and 
service.  The  neighborhood  is  transformed.  Mr.  Wana- 
maker  obtained  control  of  blocks  of  buildings  that  he 
might  build  homes  for  the  people  and  displace  whisky- 
shops  by  cheap  and  neat  houses.  The  church  is  in  the 
midst  of  a  settlement,  where  peace  and  order  reign. 

Nothing  will  explain  Bethany  but  Bethany  itself.  It  is 
not  a  place  or  an  institution  to  be  photographed  or  de- 


240  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

scribed.  It  must  be  seen  and  heard  and  felt.  There  is 
nothing  dry,  stale,  perfunctory  about  it — no  dead  ortho- 
doxy nor  cold  refrigerating  propriety.  There  is  life  and 
love,  warmth  and  motion.  And  while  this  great  church 
stands,  and  is  faithful  to  the  truth  and  the  Christ,  it  can 
not  be  said  truthfully  that  the  people  can  not  be  drawn  to 
places  of  worship,  or  kept  within  the  embrace  of  the 
Church  of  God.  A  kid  glove  is  a  non-conductor ;  but  the 
open  hand  and  the  warm  heart  can  be  made  mighty  by 
God's  Spirit  to  lay  hold  of  the  neglected  and  indifferent, 
and  make  them  members  of  Christ's  mystical  body. 

Of  late  Bethany  church-building  has  undergone  ex- 
tensive repair  and  enlargement,  greatly  adding  to  its  fit- 
ness for  its  great  mission,  and  it  is  now  the  most  com- 
plete edifice  for  church  purposes  in  the  world.  It  richly 
repays  the  trouble  of  a  visit,  especially  on  the  Lord's  Day. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  add  a  little  information  about 
the  men  and  women's  guild  at  Bethany,  known  as  the 
Superintendent's  Bible-Class.  We  reprint  the  circular  of 
the  guild  in  the  appendix. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  STIMULATION  OF  MISSIONARY  ZEAL 

The  best  products  are  of  slow  growth.  Dr.  Morgan, 
of  Oberlin,  warned  a  young  man,  who  was  rushing  into 
the  sacred  calHng  without  due  time  for  training,  that  God 
takes  long  years  to  grow  an  oak,  but,  if  it  be  only  a 
squash,  a  few  weeks  suffice.  Time  is  needed  to  think 
thoroughly  and  plan  wisely;  but  the  restless  spirit 
invades  all  departments  of  life,  and  the  modem  motto 
seems  to  be  "  push  and  rush."  Even  sacred  activities  are 
subject  to  this  insane  hurry.  Sermons  must  be  short, 
prayer-meetings  brief,  closet  devotion  timed  by  the  clock; 
there  is  no  leisure  so  much  as  to  eat  with  moderation. 

xA.t  this  fast  pace  there  can  be  no  proper  acquisition  and 
assimilation  of  knowledge.  Cramming  takes  the  place 
of  learning;  to  pass  an  examination  depends  more  on 
memory  than  on  understanding,  and  implies  no  lasting  im- 
pression. True  information  is  in-form-ation,  knowledge 
crystallized  into  a  structure  within  the  mind. 

The  main  hindrances  to  a  true  zeal  for  missions  are  self- 
ishness and  innate  hostility  to  divine  things,  and  these 
must  first  be  broken  down.  But  true  zeal  for  God  is  in- 
separable from  knowledge,  and  knowledge  takes  time.  To 
learn  facts  demands  pains  and  patience ;  but  nothing  save 
holiness  commands  such  homage  as  a  thorough  mastery 
of  facts,  which  is  the  rarest  and  costliest  product  in  the 
mental  market.  When  Daniel  Webster  heard  Prof.  Silli- 
man  talk  for  an  hour  about  the  application  of  chemistry 
to  agriculture,  his  great  intellect  bowed  before  the  scientist^ 

241 


242  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

and,  with  a  child's  dociUty,  he  said  to  Mrs.  Silliman: 
"  Were  I  rich^  I  would  pay  your  husband  $20,000  to  come 
and  sit  down  by  me  and  teach  me,  for  I  know  nothing." 
This  was  in  1852,  the  year  of  Webster's  death,  when  his 
knowledge  was  ripest. 

Various  efforts  have  been  made  during  the  last  half 
century  to  awaken  more  zeal  for  a  world's  evangelization. 
It  has  been  combat  with  the  giants.  A  colossal  ignorance 
of  the  whole  matter,  and  a  colossal  indifference  largely  due 
to  that — a  son  of  the  other  giant — have  confronted  the  ad- 
vocates of  missions ;  and  success  has  been  only  in  propor- 
tion as  these  have  been  driven  from  their  strongholds. 
If,  even  yet,  the  average  disciple  knows  so  little  of  the 
real  condition  of  the  world-wide  field,  fifty  years  ago 
the  ignorance  was  appalling.  With  here  and  there  an  ex- 
ception, even  intelligent  Christians  had  then  so  little  idea 
of  the  extent,  destitution,  and  degradation  of  pagan,  papal, 
and  moslem  fields,  that  the  rudiments  of  a  missionary  edu- 
cation seemed  lacking,  and  many  could  not  even  pray  in- 
telligently. Ignorance  was  not  so  culpable  while  there 
were  few  facilities  for  getting  information;  but  cheap, 
varied,  attractive,  and  effective  means  now  are  at  hand, 
whereby  all  may  inform  themselves  as  to  the  exact  condi- 
tion of  the  world's  need  and  of  the  Church's  work. 

Of  all  the  means,  used  for  the  stimulation  of  missionary 
zeal,  one  takes  the  first  rank — the  creation  of  a  rich  and 
abundant  missionary  literature.  This  is  a  little  world  in 
itself,  and  consists  mainly  of  three  classes  of  books  and 
other  printed  matter :  first,  historical  and  biographical ; 
second,  topical  and  philosophical;  third,  descriptive  and 
pictorial.  Beside  the  statelier  volumes  are  periodical  is- 
sues, whose  name  is  legion,  more  evanescent  in  character, 
designed  to  keep  track  of  the  march  of  the  Lord's  hosts — 
they  are  the  bulletins  of  the  war  of  the  ages.  The  women's 
boards  have  done  great  service  in  supplying  missionary 


STIMULATION  OF  MISSIONARY  ZEAL    243 

leaflets,  brief,  telling,  cheap,  available  for  gratuitous  dis- 
tribution, and  fitted  to  win  their  way  to  even  the  hasty  and 
careless  reader.  As  to  the  half -century's  aggregate 
product  in  the  literature  of  missions,  they  cover  every  field 
from  Japan  to  Alaska,  and  from  Greenland  to  Patagonia; 
they  span  all  the  centuries  from  Christ's  advent  to  the 
present  day ;  they  embrace  geography,  philology,  sociology, 
religious  belief  and  customs,  dress,  diet,  habits  of  life,  art, 
science,  medical  work — every  variety  of  topic  within  the 
range  of  the  great  theme.  Of  the  religious  products  of 
the  press  in  the  last  ten  years  alone,  considered  as  to  quan- 
tity, probably  one-fourth  have  to  do  with  missions  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  and  as  to  quality  the  class  of  books 
produced  would  do  honor  to  any  author  or  theme.  Many 
of  them  are  superbly  gotten  up  and  illustrated,  written  by 
the  foremost  writers  of  the  day,  deserving  careful  read- 
ing and  study.  Surely,  so  far  as  missionary  zeal  depends 
on  information,  there  is  no  apology  for  ignorance  and 
apathy.  As  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer  says,  "  There  is  no  sense  in 
always  telegraphing  to  heaven  for  God  to  send  a  cargo 
of  blessing,  unless  we  are  at  the  wharf  to  unload  the  vessel 
when  it  comes."  There  is,  nowadays,  the  guilt  of  wilful 
ignorance,  if  there  be  no  real  knowledge  of  God's  work  in 
this  world.  If  all  may  not  go  abroad,  all  may  help  those 
who  do  go,  by  intelligent  sympathy  and  cooperating 
prayers.  As  Godet  says,  one  thing  is  greater  than  working 
miracles,  and  that  is  to  confer  the  power  of  miracle  work- 
ing. And  one  thing  is  as  great  as  to  be  a  missionary,  and 
that  is  to  foster  the  missionary  spirit  that  makes  mission- 
aries of  others  by  the  contagion  of  our  zeal.  This  latter  is 
possible  to  every  man  and  woman,  and  finds  its  field  any- 
where and  everywhere  where  our  lot  is  cast. 

One  method  of  stimulating  missionary  zeal  is  mainly  the 
outcome  of  the  last  ten  years,  and  may  be  called  the  exposi- 
tion of  missions,  borrowing  from  the  French  th£  term 


244  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

associated  in  our  minds  with  an  exhibit  of  those  products 
of  human  invention  and  industry  which  serve  as  exponents 
of  progress. 

More  than  ten  years  ago,  under  the  caption,  "  An  Expo- 
sition of  Missions,"  the  writer  advocated  some  such  ex- 
hibit of  the  history  and  progress  of  missionary  work  in  a 
form  which  might  appeal  to  the  eye,  vividly  presenting 
the  contrast  between  the  original  and  present  conditions  of 
the  various  peoples  among  whom  the  Gospel  has  had 
a  fair  chance  to  work.  Some  such  exhibit  was  urged  in 
connection  with  the  Columbian  Exposition,  and  steps  were 
taken  toward  it,  but  stopped  short  of  the  goal.  Some 
such  seed-thought  found  lodgment  and  bore  fruit,  how- 
CA^er,  in  the  Missionary  Literature  Exhibits  at  the  Student 
Volunteer  Conventions,  and  across  the  sea  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society  has  for  years  been  holding  a  series  of 
such  exhibits  on  a  larger  scale  and  with  great  success.  In 
halls  arranged  for  such  purposes,  collections  of  costumes, 
implements,  models,  etc.,  have  been  made,  illustrative  of 
the  daily  life  of  foreign  missionaries  in  various  lands,  and 
of  the  habits  and  customs  of  the  people  among  whom  they 
labor,  retired  or  returned  missionaries  being  in  charge, 
who  assist  by  explanations,  adding  thus  a  verbal  exposition 
of  what  is  exhibited  to  the  eye.  Thus  both  by  eye-gate  and 
ear-gate  the  city  of  Mansoul  is  approached.  Such  success 
has  crowned  this  scheme  that  in  Birmingham  alone  loo,- 
ooo  visitors  were  admitted  by  ticket. 

A  similar  method  of  exhibiting  facts,  arousing  zeal,  and 
raising  funds  for  mission  work  was  exemplified  in  the  ex- 
hibit in  connection  with  the  Ecumenical  conference  in 
New  York  city  in  May,  1900;  and  in  hopes  to  promote 
such,  elsewhere,  we  here  present  some  details  of  the  actual 
working  of  such  schemes  for  practical  education  in  mis- 
sions. 

The  "  Missionary  Loan  Exhibition  "  is  the  name  by 


STIMULATION  OF  MISSIONARY  ZEAL    245 

which  these  exhibits  have  been  known  in  Britain,  For 
example,  such  a  Loan  Exhibition  was  held  in  the  Dome 
and  Corn  Exchange,  Brighton,  for  three  days,  and  the 
following  "  hints  about  loans  "  were  published  for  the  in- 
formation of  such  as  would  assist. 

1.  The  date  fixed  for  the  opening  of  the  exhibition  is  Wednes- 
day, November  29th,  and  it  would  be  well  if  all  articles  from  a 
distance  lent  for  the  occasion  should  reach  Brighton  on  Satur- 
day, November  25th,  and  local  contributions  not  later  than  Mon- 
day, November  27th. 

2.  All  packages  should  be  addressed  Missionary  Exhibition, 
The  Dome,  Brighton.  The  committee  will  gladly  pay  carriage 
both  ways,  if  desired.  Address-labels  are  inclosed  herewith,  and, 
if  insufficient,  a  further  supply  will  be  sent  on  application. 

3.  The  dispatch  of  such  packages  should  be  advised  to  the 
Honorary  Secretaries,  The  Dome,  Brighton. 

4.  A  full  description  of  each  article  sent  for  exhibition  will 
very  greatly  add  to  the  interest  and  usefulness  of  the  contribution. 
This  information  should  be  given  in  as  concise  form  as  possible, 
suitable  for  publication  in  a  catalogue.  It  is  recommended  that 
a  duplicate  copy  be  kept  of  the  list  supplied,  and  that  each  article 
bear  some  private  mark  by  which  it  can  easily  be  identified. 

5.  Packing.  The  committee  will  undertake  on  their  part  to 
repack  everything  with  the  greatest  care,  so  as  to  insure  safe 
transit,  and  hope  their  friends  will  kindly  take  equal  care. 

6.  The  exhibition  is  intended  to  include  objects  of  interest  of 
every  description  from  any  of  the  following  countries: — Africa 
(East,  West,  and  Central),  Palestine,  India  (North,  West,  and 
South),  Ceylon,  China,  Japan,  N.  W.  America,  and  New  Zealand. 
Articles  of  clothing,  or  food,  all  works  of  art,  books,  writing 
materials,  models,  pictures,  photographs  of  native  buildings,  es- 
pecially when  illustrative  of  missionary  progress,  objects  of  wor- 
ship, etc.,  will  be  acceptable. 

An  illustrated  prospectus  was  published  in  connection 
with  the  Bristol  exhibits,  the  prospectus  itself  being  a  val- 
uable pictorial  pamphlet.  Four  thousand  curios  from  all 
parts  of  the  heathen  and  Mohammedan  world  were  there 
to  be  seen,  a  unique  collection,  not  easily  brought  together 


246  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

again.  There  were  illustrated  lectures,  and  luncheons 
provided  for  visitors.  Season  tickets  for  one  person,  avail- 
able during  the  whole  time,  were  purchasable  for  about 
fifty  cents,  and  the  hall  was  divided  into  courts:  African, 
Indian,  Chinese,  Syrian,  Egyptian,  Canadian,  Japanese, 
etc. 

The  Zenana  department  contained  a  full-sized  model 
room  in  a  Bengali  zenana,  fully  furnished ;  and  ladies  con- 
nected with  zenana  work  gave  there  explanation  of  the  life 
and  customs  of  women  in  India,  illustrated  with  native 
costumes,  the  mode  of  cooking,  etc.,  being  also  shown. 
Missionaries  from  Japan  similarly  expounded  Japanese 
manners;  and  models  of  idols,  temples,  private  houses, 
suits  of  armor,  jinrikshas,  prayer  charms,  bronzes  and 
bamboo  work,  ancestral  tablets  and  shrines,  embroidery 
and  wearing  apparel,  etc.,  were  to  be  seen. 

Donations  of  provisions  and  money  relieved  the  com- 
mittee of  expense,  and  promoted  the  success  of  the  exhibit. 
Circulars  were  issued  with  instructions  to  stewards,  which 
made  all  mistakes  avoidable  and  promoted  efficient  service. 
While  the  exhibit  was  dependent  largely  upon  local  aid  for 
its  material  and  success,  many  of  the  articles  used  were,  of 
course,  available  also  for  use  in  other  localities — such  as 
the  models  of  buildings,  etc. 

No  success  can  be  assured  without  painstaking  prepara- 
tion. And  the  "  official  hand-book  and  guide,"  issued  in 
connection  with  the  Bristol  exhibit — a  book  of  170  pages — 
attests  the  care  taken  to  make  it  a  grand  triumph.  It  was 
a  rare  chance  to  study  missions,  for  an  observer  who  went 
through  the  seven  courts  or  sections  of  the  exhibit,  would 
feel  as  tho  he  had  made  a  tour  of  the  countries  repre- 
sented, with  intelligent  guides  to  the  interpretation  of  what 
he  saw,  and  all  at  a  trifling  cost  of  time  and  money. 

The  projectors  of  the  Bristol  exhibit  say,  in  review  of 
the  whole  enterprise : 


STIMULATION  OF  MISSIONARY  ZEAL    247 

The  work  was  not  one  which  was  hastily  undertaken.  An 
executive  and  sub-committees  were  formed;  the  various  depart- 
ments of  preparatory  work  gradually  took  shape;  from  the  first, 
it  was  felt  that  without  prayer  no  real  success  could  be  attained, 
and  so  in  private,  and  in  all  the  regular  meetings  of  the  various 
committees,  the  subject  was  continually  commended  to  God;  and 
all  interested  in  the  work  of  foreign  missions  were  specially  asked 
to  cooperate.  Thus  by  prayer  and  persistent  effort  linked  to- 
gether, the  work  was  carried  forward,  and,  as  a  consequence,  per- 
fect unanimity  of  feeling  and  a  gathering  enthusiasm  were  in- 
creasingly manifest  as  the  time  approached,  and  everything  was 
done  to  make  the  effort  as  far  as  possible  worthy  of  the  object 
we  had  in  view,  and  those  who  had  the  privilege  of  visiting  the 
exhibition,  must  at  least  have  felt  that  the  efforts  put  forth 
were  not  in  vain,  but  had  been  graciously  accepted  of  God,  and 
that  he  was  using  it  as  an  effective  means  of  diffusing  a  deeper 
and  wider  interest  among  us  in  the  great  work  of  the  evan- 
gelization of  the  heathen.  The  primary  idea  which  was  con- 
stantly present  to  the  minds  of  the  promoters,  was  not  to  make 
it  a  means  of  collecting  money,  but  rather  to  spread  information, 
awaken  sympathy,  and  to  elicit  self-denying  effort  in  the  cause 
of  foreign  missions,  and  this  idea  of  subordinating  all  attempts 
at  pecuniary  profit  to  the  fostering  of  the  missionary  spirit,  was 
kept  conspicuously  prominent  throughout,  and  was,  we  believe, 
one  of  the  reasons  why  God  has  deigned  to  use  the  effort  for 
His  glory. 

The  organization,  which  was  gradually  called  into  existence, 
rendered  the  effort  of  making  the  public  acquainted  with  our  in- 
tentions specially  effective;  we  rested  not  so  much  on  newspaper 
advertisements,  tho  these  were  not  neglected,  as  upon  the  rami- 
fications of  parochial  endeavor,  and  the  personal  influence  of  many 
friends ;  means  were  found  by  which  even  parishes  which  did 
not  specially  sympathize  with  the  C.  M.  S.  were  not  left  in  the 
dark  as  to  the  nature  and  objects  of  the  approaching  exhibition, 
and  so,  when  at  length  the  opening  day  arrived,  the  public  were 
prepared  to  take  advantage  of  what  had  been  provided,  and 
crowds  thronged  the  building  from  the  very  first,  and  in  this  the 
case  of  Bristol  differed  from  other  localities  where  similar  ex- 
hibitions were  held,  for  while  in  these  it  often  happened  that 
several  days  were  required  before  the  full  interest  of  the  people 
was  awakened,  with  us  that  interest  was  apparent  from  the  com- 


248  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

mencement,  and  this  was  mainly  due  to  the  laborious  and  per- 
sistent use  of  every  legitimate  means  within  our  reach. 

It  was  especially  pleasing  to  note  the  continuous  attendance  oi 
the  visitors  at  the  different  courts,  even  when  there  was  no 
special  exposition  going  on ;  the  people  seemed  patiently  to  listen, 
from  hour  to  hour,  to  the  instruction  given  by  the  stewards,  and 
on  the  second  day  the  crowds  surrounding  each  court  became  so 
large  that  it  was  found  needful  to  have  a  steward  placed  upon 
a  chair,  at  a  little  distance  from  the  court,  where  he  or  she, 
holding  up  successive  exhibits,  explained  them  to  a  still  larger 
circle. 

The  model  zenana  was  an  object  of  special  attraction,  and  was 
in  every  respect  admirably  worked.  It  was  said  that  the  proceeds 
from  this  source  amounted,  for  a  time,  to  nearly  a  shilling  a 
minute,  and  what  was  far  more  important,  a  vivid  description 
was  there  given,  to  a  continuous  stream  of  eager  inquirers,  of  the 
degraded  condition  of  women  in  India  and  the  East,  and  the 
terrible  need  of  increased  efforts  for  their  Christian  instruction 
and  social  elevation. 

Short,  spirited  addresses  were  delivered  from  time  to  time,  il- 
lustrated by  several  ingenious  devices,  by  which  were  set  forth 
the  extent  of  the  heathen  world  still  unevangelized,  the  com- 
paratively small  impressions  modern  missions  had  yet  made,  the 
inadequacy  of  the  means  which  are  being  employed  and  the  small 
amount  contributed  to  foreign  missions,  when  compared  with 
the  enormous  sums  spent  yearly  upon  luxuries  of  various  kinds. 
It  was  scarcely  possible  to  listen  to  these  expositions  without 
feeling  that  something  more  ought  to  be  done  for  the  extension 
of  the  Redeemer's  Kingdom,  and  the  gifts  which  were  put  in  the 
scale  were  a  kind  of  pledge  that  it  would  be  soon. 

The  admirable  way  in  which  the  Free  Missionary  Literature 
had  been  previously  sorted,  so  that  it  might  be  given  with  in- 
telligent purpose  and  discrimination,  was,  we  believe,  a  unique 
feature  in  our  exhibition,  and  the  patient  way  in  which  that 
literature  was  disseminated,  so  that  there  could  scarcely  have 
been  a  single  visitor  who  left  the  building  without  some  printed 
missionary  information,  can  not  be  without  some  fruit  in  future. 
It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  the  arrangements  made  for  the  re- 
ception of  the  children  of  the  various  elementary  schools  of 
Bristol,  and  the  neighborhood,  worked  without  a  hitch.  Every 
morning  some  2,000  children,  or  more,  streamed  into  the  building, 
and  from  nine  to  eleven  o'clock  they  were  instructed  by  persons 


STIMULATION  OF  MISSIONARY  ZEAL    249 

specially  apointed  for  that  purpose,  and  as  they  passed  from  court 
to  court  they  were  shown  objects  of  interest  and  attraction,  il- 
lustrating the  habits  and  customs  and  the  religions  which  exist 
in  different  parts  of  the  heathen  world,  and  the  urgent  need 
that  there  is  to  give  to  them  the  bright  and  blessed  message  of 
the  Savior's  love  was  pressed  home. 

The  medical  court,  with  its  practical  illustrations  of  what  can 
be  done  in  this  direction  for  the  heathen,  must  have  come  with 
surprise  to  many,  and  must  have  given  a  more  comprehensive 
view  than  is  generally  taken  of  the  complete  work  of  delivering 
the  Gospel  message,  which  includes  within  its  scope  not  merely 
the  salvation  of  the  soul,  but  the  emancipation  of  man's  body 
from  needless  pain  and  suffering,  and  from  the  misery  of  pre- 
ventable disease. 

The  Japanese  receptions  were  especially  popular,  and  very 
Strikingly  showed  the  tact  and  patience  which  are  needed  by  the 
missionary  in  dealing  with  a  polite  and  gifted  people,  who,  with 
all  their  versatility  and  attractiveness,  are  still  strangers  to  the 
light  of  God's  love  in  Jesus  Christ. 

The  lime-light  lectures,  upon  different  parts  of  the  mission- 
field,  were  full  of  instructive  matter,  and  were  largely  attended, 
and  the  sacred  concerts  helped  to  release  a  little  the  tension  of 
feeling  which  the  exhibition  as  a  whole  was  calculated  to  produce. 
But  the  picture  would  be  incomplete  without  some  reference  to 
the  well-organized  Sale  of  Work,  which  was  conducted  in  an 
adjoining  room;  fourteen  stalls,  tastefully  draped,  exhibited  the 
industry  and  energy  of  the  various  parishes  throughout  Bristol 
and  the  neighborhood.  For  months  previously,  many  hands  and 
brains  had  been  steadily  at  work,  and  to  all  these  parishes,  to- 
gether with  their  friends  and  workers,  and  specially  to  some 
of  the  poorer  parishes  of  our  city,  the  thanks  of  every  well-wisher 
of  the  missionary  cause  are  due.  Such  quiet,  unobstructive,  sus- 
tained and  united  work,  cannot  be  without  its  reflex  blessing  on 
all  concerned.  Nor  should  we  forget  the  ability  and  energy  with 
which  the  refreshment  department  was  administered,  meeting  as 
it  did  with  a  surprising  elasticity  the  ceaseless  demands  which 
were  made  upon  it. 

Our  only  source  of  regret  has  been  that  the  exhibition  was  of 
such  short  duration.  Had  it  been  possible  to  have  prolonged 
it,  we  might  have  reaped  still  richer  results,  and  we  might  have 
avoided  the  disappointment  which  we  are  sure  some  of  our 
friends  must  have  experienced  by  the  over-crowding  of  the  rooms, 


250  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

but  this  could  not  have  been  anticipated,  and  if  it  had,  with  the 
limited  space  at  our  disposal  it  could  scarcely  have  been  avoided. 
But  the  great  lesson  of  our  exhibition  is  undoubtedly  this: 
Bristol,  and  the  neighborhood,  has  received  an  immense  amount 
of  additional  information  upon  the  present  condition  and  needs 
of  foreign  missions;  with  this  information  there  is  inseparably 
connected  a  weighty  responsibility;  we  can  no  longer  plead  ig- 
norance, the  veil  has  been  lifted !  and  we  know  something  of  the 
cruelty,  the  degradation,  the  corruption,  and  the  hopeless  despair 
which  exists  in  the  heathen  world. 

The  suggestions,  made  years  ago,  having  thus  been 
proven  feasible  and  practicable  by  experiment,  may  again 
be  urged  with  deeper  conviction  of  their  importance.  What 
is  there  to  hinder  such  a  series  of  Missionary  Loan  Ex- 
hibits in  America,  wherever  a  fit  place  may  be  secured  ?  A 
permanent  Missionary  Institute  is  about  to  be  estab- 
lished in  the  city  of  New  York,  open  at  all  hours  of 
the  day  and  evening,  where  parents  may  take  their  children 
and  find  both  recreation  and  instruction  in  that  greatest 
of  enterprises — a  world's  transformation.  Many  devoted 
friends  of  missions  have  missionary  curiosities  and  relics 
which  they  would  gladly  lend  for  occasional  exhibits,  or 
better' still,  contribute  to  such  a  permanent  missionary  in- 
stitute. We  know  of  one  man  who  has  a  considerable 
and  valuable  collection  of  curios,  illustrative  of  life  in 
Japan,  India,  China,  Palestine,  Africa,  etc.,  which  he 
would  place  in  a  missionary  museum  as  part  of  its  equip- 
ment. In  connection  with  such  an  exhibit  there  might  be 
at  stated  hours  stereopticon  exhibitions  of  slides,  care- 
fully selected,  and  constituting  a  most  attractive  educative 
aid,  with  addresses  and  lectures  on  missionary  topics.  The 
best  and  most  recent  maps,  charts,  and  other  aids  to 
knowledge  would  naturally  find  a  place  in  such  an  exhibit ; 
and  a  building  permanently  used  for  these  ends,  would 
come  to  be  a  place  of  habitual  resort,  and  to  the  young 
especially  a  sort  of  missionary  college. 


STIMULATION  OF  MISSIONARY  ZEAL    251 

Anything  is  w.orth  attempting  if  we  may  increase 
knowledge  of  facts.  The  field  of  missions  is  still  a  terra  in- 
cognita. A  leading  philanthropist  of  Britain  confessed 
himself  to  have  been  ignorant  of  the  great  leading  facts 
of  missionary  history,  and  the  bulk  of  disciples  have 
yet  to  embark  on  their  first  voyage  of  discovery. 
But  to  those  who  will  set  out  to  explore,  a  new  world 
waits  to  unveil  itself. 

In  the  Indian  department  of  the  Glasgow  exposition 
were  not  merely  pictures  and  photographs,  but  models  of 
native  habitations  and  dress,  Hindoo  temples,  the  car  of 
Juggernaut,  the  Suttee  pile,  and  various  modes  of  torture, 
etc.  Such  methods  of  reproducing  or  representing  facts 
to  the  eye  have  the  effect  of  actual  travel  in  making  ob- 
servers familiar  with  the  fields  of  mission  labor.  And  the 
materials  are  so  abundant! 

The  Foreign  Missionary  Conference,  similar  in  aim  and 
character  to  the  World's  Missionary  Conference  of  1888, 
was  held  in  New  York  in  the  month  of  April,  1900,  and 
furnished  a  most  fitting  opportunity  for  such  an  exposi- 
tion of  missions  especially  as  the  nineteenth  century,  now 
drawing  to  a  close,  has  been  marked  by  such  a  triumphant 
career  of  missionary  evangelism. 

Let  us  imagine  a  building  suitable  for  a  grand  permanent 
exposition  of  missions.  In  the  Burma  section,  there  might 
be  represented  the  Schway  Mote  Tau  Pagoda,  with  its  idol 
shrines  and  superstitious  wild  men  as  it  was  in  1825,  and 
confronting  it,  the  Kho-Thah-Byu  Memorial  Hall  with  its 
reverent  service  of  worship,  its  intelligent  classes  of  pupils, 
and  its  various  accessories  for  Christian  service — the  me- 
morial of  fifty  thousand  Karen  converts,  living  or  dead. 
In  the  department  of  the  islands  of  the  Sea,  the  thousand 
cannibal  ovens  of  the  Fijians — the  chiefs'  huts  built  on 
piles  around  which  human  beings  were  buried  alive — the 
chiefs'  canoes  launched  over  living  human  bodies  as  rollers 


252  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

— on  the  one  side;  on  the  other  the  thousand  Christian 
churches,  and  still  more  numerous  Christian  homes  where 
the  voice  of  family  worship  may  be  daily  heard,  and  the 
floating  bethels  where  seamen  learn  of  Him  who  came  not 
to  destroy  men's  lives  but  to  save  them.  In  the  African 
department  might  be  exhibited  the  refuse  from  slave  ships, 
gathered  at  Sierra  Leone,  as  found  by  W.  A.  B.  Johnson 
in  1816,  with  no  communication  but  that  of  vice  and  no 
cooperation  but  that  of  crime;  and  that  same  community 
as  organized  into  a  model  Christian  state  within  seven 
years  after.  Madagascar  might  be  contrasted,  as  at  the 
coronation  of  Ravanalona  I.  and  of  Ravanalona  11.  The 
first  Malagasy  who  ever  learned  the  alphabet  of  his  own 
native  tongue  died  less  than  twenty  years  ago,  aged 
seventy-two.  He  had  lived  to  see  fifty  thousand  of  his 
countrymen  taught  to  read,  and  over  seventy  thousand 
profess  their  faith  in  Christ. 

Tahiti  might  be  represented,  as  during  the  "  long  night 
of  toil,"  the  missionary  amid  a  group  of  savage  cannibals 
seeking  to  get  a  lodgment  for  that  sacred  little  Gospel, 
John  iii,  16;  and  Tahiti,  after  the  love  of  God  had  taken 
hold  on  the  people,  and  that  first  convert  of  18 14  became 
leader  of  a  host  now  numbering  a  million!  and,  of  hun- 
dreds who  have  gone  forth  as  evangelists,  not  one  has  yet 
proved  recreant  or  faithless ! 

Zululand  might  be  exhibited,  as  when  the  naked  savage 
comes  to  the  mission  house  to  trade  for  a  calico  shirt,  or, 
worse  stilly  when  the  cruel  Dingaan  slaughtered  a  hundred 
girls  as  the  equivalent  for  the  penalty  exacted  from  a  hos- 
tile tribe,  one  thousand  head  of  cattle ;  and  Zululand  with 
its  Christian  households,  its  eloquent  native  preachers,  its 
self-denying  weekly  offerings  to  send  the  good  news  far 
and  wide,  and  its  self-governing,  self-supporting,  and  self- 
propagating  churches. 

What  a  department  might  the  Bible  societies  themselves 


STIMULATION  OF  MISSIONARY  ZEAL    253 

stock  with  their  more  than  four  hundred  transla- 
tions! Think  of  these  great  missionary  agencies,  avera- 
ging over  three  new  translations  for  each  year  of  the  cen- 
tury! For  nearly  each  year  one  new  language  without 
alphabet,  grammar,  or  lexicon,  has  been  reduced  to  writing, 
and  a  literature  created  out  of  nothing !  "  Walk  about 
Zion,  tell  the  towers  thereof,  mark  well  her  bulwarks,  con- 
sider her  palaces/'  What  cathedral  towers  are  those  so- 
cieties that  lift  the  word  of  God  in  all  these  tongues  to  such 
a  lofty  height !  What  bulwarks  these  aggressive  activities, 
whose  offensive  warfare  against  the  powers  of  darkness  are 
the  best  defensive  measures  for  the  church  at  home! 
What  palaces  are  those  praying  assemblies,  where  the 
King  Himself  abides,  and  where  the  spirit  of  missions 
constitutes  a  court  of  Christ! 

Of  course,  the  greater  proportion  of  Gospel  triumphs 
defy  tabulation  or  visual  demonstration.  The  aggregate 
number  of  converts  from  heathen  lands,  during  the  century 
is  not  far  from  ten  to  fifteen  million  at  the  least,  and  prob- 
ably would  reach  thirty  million  if  complete  statistics  could 
be  gathered.  Who  shall  ever  write  out  that  secret  history 
of  self-denying  love,  exemplified  in  thousands  like  the  ob- 
scure Chinese  convert  who  sold  himself  as  a  coolie  in  New 
Guinea  for  the  sake  of  close  contact  with  his  unsaved  coun- 
trymen, and  who  shortly  led  over  two  hundred  of  them  to 
Jesus?  The  reflex  influences  of  missions  can  not  be  ex- 
hibited. When  irreligion  and  infidelity  seemed  folding  the 
Church  in  the  fatal  embrace  of  an  arctic  winter,  it  was  the 
new  missionary  era  that  broke  the  charm  of  this  deadly 
stagnation  and  congelation. 

But  if  some  results  cannot  be  exhibited,  there  is  no  rea- 
son why  we  should  not  avail  ourselves  of  what  may  be 
shown  vividly  to  the  eye.  In  the  Crystal  Palace  at  Syden- 
ham, modern  enterprise  built,  on  a  scale  of  one-third  the 
actual  size,  Assyrian  palaces,  Egyptian  rock  tombs,  Greek 


254  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

and  Roman  temples,  Alhambran  and  Pompeian  halls  and 
chambers,  medieval  cathedrals,  so  that  the  visitor  might 
in  a  walk  of  half  an  hour  actually  see  three  thousand  years 
of  successive  civilizations  reproducing  their  marvels.  In 
the  Egyptian  museum  at  London,  vast  galleries  and  corri- 
dors are  assigned  to  the  huge  tablets,  sculptures,  sarcoph- 
agi, vases,  papyri,  etc.,  gathered  from  the  buried  cities 
of  the  East.  And  in  Paris  a  few  years  ago,  in  the  "  Nou- 
velle  Bastile,"  the  old  demolished  fortress  prison  was  re- 
erected,  tho  only  for  a  season,  to  gratify  transient  visitors. 

In  connection  with  the  International  Exposition  in  Glas- 
gow, in  1888,  was  a  vast  building,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long, 
filled  with  twenty-five  classes  of  industrial  products.  Ag- 
riculture and  horticulture,  mining  and  engineering,  both 
civil  and  naval ;  machinery  of  the  most  colossal  and  compli- 
cate, as  well  as  of  the  most  minute  and  delicate  character ; 
cutlery  and  arms,  carriages  and  other  wheeled  vehicles; 
the  most  recent  and  improved  methods  and  devices  for  illu- 
mination by  oil,  gas,  and  electricity ;  textile  fabrics  of  won- 
derful variety  and  delicacy;  food  and  cooking  utensils; 
paper,  printing,  and  book-making;  furniture  and  decora- 
tion; fishery,  pottery,  and  glass;  jewelry  and  plated  ware; 
shipbuilding,  with  a  profuse  display  of  exquisite  models; 
nay,  even  the  subtler  sciences  and  fine  arts — ^physical  train- 
ing and  education,  chemistry,  and  philosophy,  music  and 
painting,  and  sculpture  and  architecture — all  these  and 
much  more  besides  found  there  exhibition  and  exposition. 
A  new  world  was  unveiled  in  the  single  department  of  wo- 
man's work,  the  arts  and  industries  at  which  she  presides. 
The  field,  represented  in  this  garner  of  abundant  harvests, 
was  well-nigh  world-wide.  England,  Scotland,  Wales, 
and  Ireland,  Canada,  France,  India,  and  Ceylon — all 
helped  to  make  this  International  Exposition  one  of  the 
world's  wonders. 

It  is  high  time  that  Christian  believers  showed  some 


STIMULATION  OF  MISSIONARY  ZEAL    255 

such  spirit  of  enterprise  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  God. 
Those  who  are  famihar  with  the  history  and  Hterature  of 
missions,  feel  themselves  to  be  walking  through  the  corri- 
dors of  a  colossal  exposition.  They  see  a  lamp  more  won- 
derful than  that  of  Aladdin  banishing  the  death  shade  and 
transforming  the  whole  aspect  of  heathen  communities, — 
the  simple  Gospel  displacing  rags  with  robes,  vice  with 
virtue,  filth  with  cleanliness,  ignorance  with  intelligence, 
cruelty  with  charity, — the  magician's  enchantments  out- 
done by  the  miracles  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Facts,  properly 
exhibited,  will  outshine  the  fables  of  Oriental  fancy. 
There  is  an  architecture  that  is  sublimer  than  "  frozen 
music ;  "  the  structures  which  missionary  heroism  has  built 
up  are  the  temples  of  God,  their  timbers  more  fragrant 
than  cedar,  and  within  and  without  they  are  overlaid  with 
the  gold  of  the  upper  sanctuary. 


CHAPTER  XX 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  UNDENOMINATIONAL  MISSIONS 

God's  working,  like  His  works,  bears  the  stamp  of  in- 
finite variety  and  versatility.  His  Spirit  can  not  be  con- 
fined within  narrow  limits  or  arbitrary  restraints,  but,  like 
the  mighty  wind,  bloweth  whencesoever  and  whithersoever 
He  will,  and  no  man  can  say  or  do  aught  to  control  His 
sovereign  and  majestic  movements.  God's  working  obeys 
law,  but  it  is  a  higher  law  than  that  which  man's  methods 
prescribe,  and  a  holy  humility  becomes  us  as  we  study  the 
spiritual  history  of  the  race ;  for  the  true  criterion  of  judg- 
ment is  not  whether  a  measure  is  conformed  to  human  no- 
tions, ancient  customs,  or  established  precedents,  but 
whether  it  is  of  God,  whether  it  bears  the  mark  of  His  lead- 
ership and  sanction.  For  if  it  be  of  God,  man  can  not 
overthrow  it,  and  in  opposing  it  may  haply  be  found  even 
to  fight  against  God. 

For  a  half  century  there  has  been  a  steady  increase  of 
Individual  and  Independent  Missions — enterprises  under- 
taken outside  of  the  denominational  channels,  sometimes 
starting  with  an  individual,  or  a  few  like-minded  disciples, 
but  generally  in  some  sense  a  new  departure,  and  in  con- 
trast with  the  older,  commonly  accepted,  and  approved 
ways  of  carrying  on  mission  work.  As  might  be  expected, 
many  of  these  have  exhibited  no  grace  of  continuance,  and 
have  soon  died  a  natural  death.  But  others  have  proved 
so  vital,  so  energetic,  so  successful  as  to  compel  recog- 
nition, and  some  of  them  have  threatened  to  revolutionize 
existing  methods  by  the  conspicuous  signs  that  they  are 
conformed  to  God's  mind. 

256 


UNDENOMINATIONAL  MISSIONS       257 

Independent  enterprises  are  not  necessarily  antagonistic 
to  the  older  and  more  prevalent  methods,  but  they  may  be 
only  supplementary.  The  ball  and  socket  in  a  perfect  joint 
are  exactly  opposite  to  one  another,  but  that  is  a  condition 
of  their  mutual  adaptation :  they  are  counterparts.  There 
is  not  only  room  for  all  sorts  of  methods  in  a  world-wide 
work,  but  all  sorts  of  methods  are  needed  for  all  sorts  of 
men.  The  round  peg  needs  the  round  hole  and  the  tri- 
angular peg  needs  a  hole  as  angular  as  itself.  It  is  simple 
folly  to  contend  with  people  who  would  like  to  work  in 
their  own  way,  and  to  condemn  their  way  as  peculiar.  It 
was  a  great  monarch  who,  after  trying  to  make  a  dozen 
watches  run  exactly  alike,  gave  it  up  in  despair,  but  it  did 
not  need  a  great  man  to  reach  this  sensible  conclusion  that, 
if  machines  can  not  be  made  to  move  precisely  in  unison, 
the  human  machine  is  far  less  likely  to  be  subject  to  such 
uniformity. 

God  made  no  two  men  exactly  alike,  and  the  beauty  of 
His  work  is,  that  it  has  a  particular  place  and  sphere  for 
every  worker,  into  which  that  worker  fits  with  predestined 
precision.  If  there  be  unity  in  essentials,  there  not  only 
may  be  diversity  in  non-essentials,  but  such  diversity  is  a 
help  and  not  a  hinderance  to  the  final  result,  for  it  allows 
every  human  instrument  full  play  for  its  perfect  and  pe- 
culiar adaptation  to  the  working  out  of  the  will  of  God. 

There  are  advantages,  undoubtedly,  in  the  older  estab- 
lished forms  of  mission  enterprise.  Antiquity  is  not  al- 
ways a  sign  of  excellence — for,  as  Cyprian  says,  it  may 
be  vetustas  erroris — the  old  age  of  error.  But  commonly 
in  Christian  service  there  is  a  survival  of  the  fittest,  and 
what  lasts  and  outlasts,  has  usually  some  secret  of  vitality. 
The  common  way  of  doing  mission  work  is  by  "  Boards  of 
the  Church,"  with  their  "  secretaries "  and  other  ma- 
chinery. Representative  men,  clerical  or  lay,  or  both,  are 
chosen  to  represent  denominational  interests,  and  secre- 


258  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

taries  to  be  the  direct  channels  of  correspondence  with  the 
field.  This  is  a  wise  business  arrangement,  with  two 
classes  of  helpers — ^administrators  and  agents — those  who 
on  the  one  hand  undertake  the  general  work  of  administra- 
tion, and  others  who  on  the  other  hand  come  into  closer 
contact  with  the  field  and  the  laborers,  study  their  mutual 
adaptation,  and  superintend  the  work  directly.  Thus  the 
wisdom  of  wise  men  in  counsel  and  the  energy  of  practical 
men  in  action  are  combined  happily  and  effectively.  And, 
when  the  wise  men  are  not  too  cautious^  or  the  practical 
men  too  energetic,  so  that  the  boards  and  the  secretaries 
do  not  pull  together,  this  is  probably  as  safe  an  arrange- 
ment as  human  sagacity  can  dictate.  Sometimes  boards 
have  proven  so  conservative  that  they  put  on  the 
brakes  even  when  the  road  was  all  up  hill,  or  secre- 
taries so  progressive  that  they  used  the  whip  even  when 
the  grade  was  down  hill.  But  allowing  for  such  excep- 
tions, the  denominational  method  has  proved  on  the  whole 
very  effective  in  carrying  on  missions. 

And  yet,  there  are  some  serious  drawbacks,  even  where 
boards  do  not  hamper  secretaries  and  secretaries  do  not 
harass  boards.  Let  us  grant  all  the  advantages  of  a 
large  denominational  backing,  of  long  existing  and 
approved  methods,  and  of  the  promise  of  permanence. 
Let  us  freely  concede  that,  when  a  great  Christian 
denomination  undertakes  mission  work  as  a  body, 
the  work  is  likely  to  be  more  thorough,  more  last- 
ing, more  far-reaching;  likely  to  command  more  general 
support,  to  be  kept  within  safer  lines,  to  be  conducted  with 
more  denominational  comity,  so  as  not  to  collide  with  other 
branches  of  the  Church;  likely  also  to  put  in  the  field 
workers,  better  trained,  more  scholarly,  more  fitted  to 
grapple  with  the  problem  of  missions  and  to  furnish  more 
competent  translators,  educators,  leaders  of  the  host.  But 
are  there  no  manifest  risks  run  in  the  "  Board  "  System? 


UNDENOMINATIONAL  MISSIONS       259 

There  is  no  doubt  that  denominational  societies  are  often 
*'  hide-bound  "  by  conservatism  and  ecclesiasticism — tim- 
idly over-cautious,  and  hesitating  and  vacillating  in  cases 
where  a  holy  boldness  and  goaheadativeness  is  the  only 
hope  of  success.  Boards  and  committees  often  lack  au- 
dacity. Mr.  Spurgeon  once  said  to  me,  "  The  best  working 
committee  is  a  committee  of  twenty-one,  which  entrusts  all 
business  to  a  sub-committee  of  three,  of  which  one  member 
is  sick  and  another  is  out  of  town ;  then  you  get  something 
done !  "  And  he  added,  '*  Have  you  never  noticed  that  you 
may  take  seven  men,  any  one  of  whom  will  give  you  a  wise 
and  prompt  decision  if  you  consult  him  alone,  but  when 
you  constitute  them  into  a  committee  or  board,  they  act  un- 
wisely, afraid  to  decide,  sluggish  to  move,  even  where  all 
hangs  on  quick  work?  "  Sometimes  in  a  great  emergency 
a  church  board  has  delayed,  waited  to  discuss,  and  finally 
adjourned  without  doing  anything,  all  seemingly  afraid 
of  doing  too  much  or  doing  something  unwise,  when  any- 
thing was  better  and  wiser  than  to  do  nothing !  Or,  how 
often  again,  when  old  methods  fail  and  a  new  way  promises 
well,  has  a  board  clung  to  the  old  with  its  failure,  instead 
of  giving  the  new  a  chance,  where  at  the  worst  it  could 
only  failf  Of  all  fetters  what  are  more  rasping  to  a  di- 
vinely quickened  soul  than  the  iron  bonds  of  ecclesias- 
ticism, that,  by  undue  jealousy  for  churchly  traditions  hin- 
der the  success  of  the  work  of  God  ?  There  are  some  peo- 
ple who  would  hesitate  to  throw  a  plank  to  a  drowning 
man,  unless  they  first  knew  to  whose  ecclesiastical  lumber- 
pile  it  properly  belonged,  or  in  what  theological  planing- 
mill  it  had  been  smoothed  down ;  people  who  would  let  mil- 
lions die  without  a  hearing  of  the  Gospel  message,  rather 
than  that  they  should  hear  it  at  the  lips  of  one  who  was 
not  in  the  "  apostolic  succession,"  or  had  not  been  trained 
in  some  peculiar  denominational  shibboleth. 

Sometimes  church  boards  are  arbitrary  and  even  des- 


260  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

potic,  full  as  much  so  as  any  one  man  who  keeps  matters 
unduly  in  his  own  hands.  Has  there  never  been  an  auto- 
crat at  the  secretary's  table,  who  has  dictated  unreasonably 
and  unrighteously  to  missionaries  thousands  of  miles  away 
in  matters  about  which  they  had  far  more  knowledge  and 
capacity  than  himself  ?  In  one  case,  known  to  the  writer, 
a  secretary  demanded  of  missionaries  a  course  of  conduct 
that,  if  followed,  would  have  been  disloyal  to  Christ  and 
dishonorable  to  man,  and  he  made  compliance  a  condition 
of  continuance  and  maintenance  on  the  field!  Mission- 
aries on  the  ground  should  be  far  more  independent  of 
home  control  than  they  often  are,  and  far  more  of  the 
actual  administration  of  the  work  and  distributing  of 
money  in  the  work  should  be  left  to  them,  who  are  actually 
in  the  very  center  of  the  activities  of  missions,  and  are 
more  competent  wisely  to  settle  many  such  matters. 

There  are  also  both  advantages  and  disadvantages  in  in- 
dependent, individual,  and  undenominational  mission  en- 
terprises. Their  main  justification  is  this,  that  they  supply 
a  channel  for  putting  at  work  many  who  will  not  in  any 
other  way  come  in  active  contact  with  the  field,  and  that 
they  enlist  the  sympathy  and  cooperation  of  many  who 
for  some  reason  or  other  do  not  approve  of  the  ordinary 
methods  or  do  not  work  through  them. 

The  reluctance  of  some  people  to  send  their  money 
through  the  boards,  they  explain  by  the  fact  that  they  do 
not  believe  in  the  expense  attending  administration,  even 
when  economically  conducted.  They  maintain  (unrea- 
sonably, perhaps),  that  all  secretarial  work  may  be  done 
and  should  be  done  gratuitously,  and  that  there  are  men 
and  women  who  would  gladly  serve  God  in  this  sphere  at 
their  own  cost,  like  that  prominent  secretary  of  one  of  the 
greatest  missionary  societies  who  never  received  a  penny 
for  his  services,  preferring  to  do  his  work  gratuitously. 
Another  man  who  is  the  actual  conductor  of  a  great  mis- 


UNDENOMINATIONAL  MISSIONS       261 

sionary  enterprise,  has  never  used  a  farthing,  given  for 
missions,  for  personal  purposes.  A  poor  servant  maid, 
who  saved  twenty-five  dollars  to  send  the  Gospel  abroad, 
learned  that  it  took  a  thousand  such  gifts  as  hers  to  pay  the 
salaries  of  the  good  men  who  supervise  the  work,  and  in 
her  ignorance  she  failed  to  see  that  her  savings  had  done 
any  good  to  the  lost  souls  that  she  gave  her  money  to  help. 
It  takes  a  mind  more  philosophical  than  hers  to  trace  the 
gift,  and  see  that  what  helps  to  maintain  the  pilot  at  the 
wheel,  speeds  the  vessel  and  its  cargo  towards  the  haven, 
and  so,  in  the  long  run,  it  pays  to  have  salaried  agents. 

Others  conscientiously  feel  that  the  ordinary  missions  of 
the  Church  are  not  conducted  on  apostolic  principles,  and 
they  crave  a  new.  way  that  is  in  their  opinion  really  the 
older  way.  Rev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor  is  a  deeply  taught 
disciple,  and  we  have  seen  how  he  felt  convinced^  in  1865, 
that  God  wanted  a  new  enterprise  begun  for  Inland  China, 
on  lines  more  primitive  than  those  in  general  use.  He 
especially  felt  that  there  was  lacking  a  spirit  of  believing 
prayer,  of  dependence  on  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  direct 
looking  to  God  both  for  men  and  money;  and  he  undertook 
the  China  Inland  Mission  especially  to  emphasize  these 
three  principles.  Dares  any  one  who  has  been  watching 
its  history  for  these  thirty-five  years  now  dispute  that 
God's  broad  seal  is  upon  his  work? 

Independent  missions  have  greatly  multiplied,  and  are 
still  multiplying.  The  philosophy  underlying  them  we  are 
now  seeking  to  learn.  No  doubt  one  reason  in  God's  mind 
for  introducing  these  methods  into  His  all-embracing  plan 
may  be  that  they  afford  opportunity  for  experimental  trials 
of  methods  hitherto  comparatively  unused,  as,  for  instance, 
industrial  missions  and  colonization  schemes,  so  that  what- 
ever is  valuable  in  them  may  be  proven  such,  and  intro- 
duced as  features  into  older  schemes.  Wise  men  never 
stop  learning,  nor  pursue  their  way  in  such  blind  con- 


262  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

fidence  in  their  own  infallibility,  as  to  be  unwilling  to  mod- 
ify and  improve  their  methods. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  connection  with  missions  at  North- 
field  in  1897 — speaking  of  a  missionary  fund  which  it  was 
proposed  to  raise  to  help  volunteers  into  the  field  whom 
ordinary  contributions  might  not  suffice  to  send — Mr. 
Moody  said : 

"  I  am  in  sympathy  with  the  boards,  and  have  no  sympathy 
with  the  croakers.  You  cannot  find  a  better  set  of  men  on  this 
continent  than  those  in  the  American  board,  or  in  the  Presby- 
terian Board.  We  are  in  hearty  sympathy  with  these  regular 
boards.  I  think  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  send  any  money  outside 
of  the  regular   hannels." 

Mr.  Moody,  however  fully  in  sympathy  with  the 
Boards,  no  doubt  believed  there  are  many  organizations 
"  outside  of  the  regular  channels  "  that  God  is  greatly  us- 
ing, and  he  certainly  could  not  have  meant  that  all  who 
differ  from  the  established  methods,  or  encourage  these 
outside  agencies,  are  to  be  put  down  as  "  croakers  ".  There 
is  one  man  whose  heart  was  so  moved  by  the  needs  of  Ko- 
rea, that  he  sent  out  and  supported  at  his  own  cost  several 
missionaries  to  the  Hermit  Nation;  yet  he  also  recently 
gave  liberal  help  to  lift  the  enormous  debt  of  the  Baptist 
Board.  Pastor  Harms  was  so  moved  by  the  appalling  des- 
titution of  a  dying  world,  that  he  turned  his  own  church  of 
poor  peasants  into  a  missionary  society,  sent  out  hundreds 
of  missionaries,  and  set  up  scores  of  stations  in  unoccupied 
territory.  Was  his  work  illegitimate?  Yet  he  not  only 
had  his  own  society  and  missions,  but  his  own  mission  ship, 
mission  magazine,  and  mission  training-school.  The 
eighteen  Christian  centuries  furnish  no  more  startling  ex- 
ample of  the  Spirit's  leading,  and  of  the  possibilities  of 
service,  than  this  Hermannsburg  Missionary  '  Society, 
working  entirely  outside  the  previously  used  channels. 


UNDENOMINATIONAL  MISSIONS       263 

Henry  Grattan  Guinness  represents  an  independent  society, 
which  has  for  more  than  a  quarter  century  been  carrying 
on  a  grand  missionary  training-school,  has  founded  the 
Livingstone  Inland,  and  Kongo  Balolo  missions  in  Africa 
on  a  very  extensive  scale,  and  is  now  undertaking  to  evan- 
gelize the  neglected  continent  of  South  America.  Mr. 
Moody  himself  encountered  some  little  criticism  by  his  in- 
dependent working  outside  the  regular  channels.  The 
Training  Institute  at  Chicago  was  regarded  by  some  as 
diverting  students  from  the  theological  seminaries,  and 
hurrying  into  the  field  at  home  and  abroad_,  some  who 
have  never  had  full  training.  Yet  this  grand  work  at  Chi- 
cago is  only  another  proof  that  God  has  room  for  many 
forms  of  working  in  His  plan,  that  may  not  be  perfectly 
regular  according  to  man's  notions. 

But  we  cannot  afford  to  sanction  any  undue  irregulari- 
ties. If  mission  work  is  carried  on  independently  of  the 
ordinary  denominational  methods  let  it  be  carefully 
guarded  from  all  abuses  and  perversions,  lest  it  forfeit 
public  confidence  and  the  right  of  continuance.  And  it  is 
in  no  censorious  spirit  that  we  now  calmly  but  candidly 
state  some  of  the  defects  or  disadvantages  of  these  inde- 
pendent ways  of  working. 

(i)  The  fundamental  risk  is  that  such  enterprise  shall 
center  unduly  in  one  man,  and  revolve  about  his  per- 
sonality. 

Human  nature  is  not  yet  sanctified  enough  to  risk  put- 
ting too  much  power  in  one  man's  hands.  What  modestly 
begins  as  a  private  venture  of  faith  and  prayer,  may,  when 
it  grows  to  unexpected  proportions,  become  a  public  ca- 
lamity by  the  autocratic  and  despotic  way  in  which  it  is 
conducted.  While  its  originator  was  almost  its  sole  sup- 
porter it  might  be  allowable  that  he  should  be  its  sole  di- 
rector. But  as  others  become  active  participators  in  the 
work  and  its  support,  they  should  have  a  voice  in  its  con- 


264  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

duct.     This  is  God's  corrective  for  the  peril  of  the  despot- 
ism possible  even  to  the  religious  autocrat. 

(2)  Workers  should  not  be  hurried  into  the  mission 
field  without  any  proper  preparation.  But  the  standards 
of  fitness  are  not  always  scripturally  chosen.  There  is  a 
natural  demand  for  educated  preachers  and  teachers,  and 
they  are  needed  nowhere  more  urgently  than  in  foreign 
lands.  But  two  things  must  not  be  forgotten :  first,  that 
there  is  much  work  that  can  be  done  by  comparatively  un- 
educated people,  as  in  a  war  effective  fighting  is  often  done 
by  raw  recruits  as  well  as  trained  veterans.  Many  a  man 
can  follow  who  can  not  lead.  And  again,  we  must  not  for- 
get that  God's  standard  of  education  is  different  from 
man's.  He  has  His  own  school,  and  some  are  deeply 
taught  in  God's  university  who  never  were  graduated  at  an 
earthly  college.  To  be  taught  of  the  Holy  Ghost  makes 
up  even  for  bad  grammar,  and  poor  logic  is  more  than 
compensated  by  the  demonstration  of  the  Spirit.  The  his- 
tory of  missions  shows  some  ignominious  failures  on  the 
part  of  some  of  the  most  conspicuous  scholars,  and  as 
glorious  successes  on  the  part  of  some  others,  who  knew 
little  Latin  and  less  Greek. 

(3)  Another  danger  quite  as  obvious,  is  that  of  giving 
money  impulsively  and  wastefully  to  irresponsible,  incapa- 
ble, or  even  fraudulent  parties.  A  letter  has  been  received 
from  a  most  intelligent  and  devoted  missionary,  lament- 
ing that,  notwithstanding  repeated  cautions,  good  Chris- 
tian people  in  England  and  America  continued  to  send 
money  to  a  man  who  pretended  to  be  doing  mission 
work  in  the  East,  but  whose  whole  career  was  suspicious. 
He  says : 

"  I  lived  in  the  same  place  with  this  man,  off  and  on,  for 
three  years,  and  during  that  time  frequently  saw  him  and 
his  family,  and  my  connection  with  the  field  and  people 
gives  me  opportunity  of  judging.     Our  opinion,  and  the 


UNDENOMINATIONAL  MISSIONS       265 

opinion,  I  believe,  of  all  the  resident  English  in  that  field 
is  that  the  work  of  this  man  is  most  unsatisfactory,  and  not 
by  any  means  what  he  professes  it  to  be.  I  have  passed 
his  house  constantly,  not  only  daily,  but  often  many  times 
in  a  day,  and  I  have  never  seen  his  much-talked  of  in- 
quirers entering  and  leaving  his  house.  He  has  undoubt- 
edly linguistic  gifts,  which  ought  to  make  him  a  most  use- 
ful missionary,  but,  to  speak  candidly,  I  believe  he  makes 
practically  no  use  of  them.  ( i )  If  a  man  repeatedly  tries 
to  become  connected  with  evangelical  missionary  societies 
— a  man  who  has  many  gifts  which  should  make  him  a  val- 
uable agent — and  after  inquiry  these  societies  refuse  to  em- 
ploy him,  must  there  not  be  something  wrong?  (2)  If 
a  man  tries  to  run  a  mission  on  his  own  account,  collecting 
all  the  money,  not  responsible  to  any  committee,  '  can  he 
possibly  carry  on  satisfactory  mission  work?'  I  have  not 
the  slightest  grudge,  but  I  honestly  believe  his  presence 
here  is  rather  a  hindrance  than  a  help  to  mission  work." 

Apropos  of  irresponsible  missions,  we  extract  from  The 
Missionary  Herald  a  letter,  with  the  brief  comments  upon 
it.  The  whole  matter  is  one  of  such  gravity,  and  so  bear- 
ing upon  Christian  work,  both  at  home  and  abroad^  that  it 
should  receive  most  careful  attention. 

"  There  has  recently  appeared  in  several  papers  of  India  and 
Great  Britain  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Christian  churches  of  Great 
Britain,  Australasia,  and  America,  prepared  by  members  of  the 
Madras  Missionary  Conference,  calling  attention  to  a  matter 
which  seems  to  them  most  serious.  It  is  signed  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  members  of  various  missionary  societies,  and  also  by  a 
number  of  native  Christians  in  the  Madras  district.  The  letter 
will  explain  itself,  and  we  give  it  entire,  commending  it  heartily 
to  the  attention  of  all  Christians  in  the  United  States. 

"  Dear  Brethren  : — Of  recent  years  several  Indian  Christians 
from  South  India  and  Ceylon  have  either  visited  your  churches 
in  person  or  have  issued  appeals  by  letter,  and  by  these  means 
have  collected  considerable  sums  of  money  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  on  different  forms  of  mission  work  in  this  country. 


266  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

These  persons  were  for  the  most  part  workers  in  connection  with 
the  various  churches  or  missionary  societies,  but  in  most  cases 
their  actual  connection  has  ceased.  They  have  issued  their  ap- 
peals in  their  own  name,  and  the  work  which  they  have  initiated 
and  profess  to  be  now  carrying  on  is  not  under  the  control  or 
oversight  of  any  one  except  themselves.  The  actual  work  carried 
on  in  most  cases  bears  but  a  small  proportion  to  that  set  forth 
in  their  appeals  as  what  they  propose  to  do. 

"  The  interests  of  truth  and  righteousness  demamd  that  these 
facts  should  be  stated,  and  in  view  of  the  injury  they  have 
already  done,  and  the  still  greater  injury  they  are  calculated  to  do 
to  the  cause  of  Christ  in  this  land,  we  can  no  longer  keep  silent. 

"  These  appeals  are  a  source  of  grave  moral  danger  to  those 
who  make  them,  for  they  have  to  administer  large  funds  without 
the  safeguard  of  the  control  of  others,  and  are  thus  exposed 
to  a  strong  temptation  to  employ  for  private  purposes  money  in- 
tended for  public  use.  They  are  injurious  to  the  cause  of  missions 
in  those  countries  from  whence  the  funds  come,  for  certainly 
sooner  or  later  the  contributors  will  find  out  that  their  gifts  are 
either  not  being  used  for  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  made, 
or  that  the  work  carried  on  is  very  disproportionate  to  the  funds 
expended.  Distrust  will  thus  be  excited,  which  will  extend  even 
to  undertakings  where  the  proper  use  of  the  funds  is  adequately 
guaranteed.  With  some  of  the  evils  which  these  appeals  produce 
in  this  country  we  are  already  too  familiar.  One  of  these  is 
their  tendency  to  demoralize  the  Indian  community.  The  idea 
is  abroad  among  a  certain  section  of  that  community  that  an 
Indian  Christian  has  only  to  go  with  a  specious  plea  to  Great 
Britain,  Australasia,  or  America  to  obtain  large  sums  of  money 
from  persons  who  will  not  inquire  too  closely  as  to  how  their 
gifts  are  to  be  used,  and  who,  if  they  see  their  contributions 
acknowledged  in  a  printed  subscription  list,  will  be  satisfied  that 
they  are  being  properly  spent. 

"  In  order  to  check  such  evils,  resulting  from  appeals  by  irre- 
sponsible individuals,  we  would  respectfully  suggest  that  contri- 
butions should  only  be  given  to  those  who  are  able  to  give  guar- 
antees, Hrst,  that  they  are  the  accredited  agents  of  a  responsible 
committee  of  persons  who  reside  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
where  the  proposed  work  is  to  be  done ;  secondly,  that  the  special 
object  for  which  money  is  solicited  is  distinctly  approved  by  that 
committee;  thirdly,  that  accounts  will  be  rendered  to  all  sub- 
scribers, giving  not  simply  lists  of  subscriptions  and  donations 
received,  but  also  a  balance-sheet  duly  audited,  showing  that  the 
moneys  received  have  actually  been  spent  upon  the  objects  for 
which  they  were  given.  We  are  convinced  that  no  cause  which 
is  really  good  will  suffer  by  the  exercise  of  these  precautions,  as 
those  who  plead  for  such  causes  will  have  no  difficulty  in  giving 
the  guarantees  required." 

Signed  by  T.  P.  Dudley,  Secretary  of  the  Madras  Christian 
Conference;  by  N.  Subrahmanyam,  barrister,  and  by  seventeen 
others. 


UNDENOMINATIONAL  MISSIONS       267 

It  is  possible  that  there  might  be  a  combination  of  sev- 
eral of  the  now  existing  independent  missions  in  one  or- 
ganization. Some  such  plan  has  been  proposed  in  London, 
and  may  be  put  into  execution.  It  is  suggested  that  a 
general  society  be  formed,  having  in  charge  various  unoc- 
cupied fields,  such  as  Tibet,  South  America,  the  Sudan, 
etc.,  and  that  all  undenominational  and  independent  mis- 
sionary enterprises  be  invited  to  enter  into  this  united  or- 
ganization, without  interference  with  the  special  methods 
and  principles  of  each,  but  as  a  guarantee  to  the  public  that 
there  is  proper  supervision,  fidelity  in  management,  and 
integrity  in  the  use  of  funds.  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  James 
E.  Mathieson,  Esq.,  and  other  prominent  men  have  been 
proposed  as  the  committee  to  represent  this  united  society. 
Could  such  a  method  be  adopted,  might  it  not  greatly  re- 
lieve the  present  situation  ? 

What  is  here  written  would  be  misinterpreted  if  con- 
strued, as,  directly  or  indirectly,  an  attack  on  the  "  boards," 
or  established  agencies  which  represent  the  various 
churches  of  Christ  in  the  work  of  missions.  It  is  suffi- 
cient proof  that  no  such  motive  actuates  the  writer,  that  he 
has  always  both  advocated,  and  cooperated  with,  the  reg- 
ular church  methods,  so  long  in  operation.  The  object  in 
view  is,  not  to  criticise  or  to  condemn  any  existing  system, 
whether  denominational  or  independent ;  but  calmly  to  con- 
sider, and  carefully  to  weigh,  both  the  advantages  and  de- 
fects of  all  methods,  so  that  whatever  is  good  may  be  con- 
served, and  whatever  is  undesirable  may  be  avoided.  If 
we  have  indicated  any  dangers  that  threaten  the  working 
plans  of  the  Church,  it  is  only  in  hopes  to  increase  their 
efficiency.  Infallibility  pertains  only  to  God,  and  men 
often  learn  quite  as  much  from  errors  and  failures,  as  from 
their  best  endeavors  and  most  triumphant  successes.  We 
invoke  blessing  on  all  Who  honestly  seek  to  advance  the 
cause  of  missions. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

INDEPENDENT   MISSIONS — CONTINUED 

Wendell  Phillips  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  fore- 
most of  American  orators.  There  was  especially  notice- 
able about  him  a  marked  ethical  momentum.  No  other 
phrase  so  well  expresses  it.  Momentum  is  the  product 
of  the  mass  of  matter  by  the  velocity  of  movement.  When 
he  spoke  on  great  moral  questions,  he  carried  his  auditor 
with  him  by  an  oratorical  force,  into  which  entered  two 
grand  elements:  first,  a  noble,  strong,  weighty  manhood, 
back  of  the  speech ;  and  second,  a  rapid,  onward  movement 
in  forcible  argument,  intense  earnestness  of  emotion,  and 
lofty  purpose,  all  facilitated  by  simplicity  of  diction  and 
aptness  of  illustration. 

This  American  Demosthenes  had  gone  through  the 
temptations  to  early  dissipation  which  a  rich  young  man 
confronts,  and  developed  a  great  moral  character,  which 
constitutes  him  one  of  the  noblest  figures  in  the  history  of 
New  England. 

An  interesting  fact  is  related  of  his  youth. 

One  day,  after  hearing  Lyman  Beecher  preach,  he  re- 
paired to  his  room,  threw  himself  on  the  floor,  and  cried: 
''  O  God,  I  belong  to  Thee!  Take  what  is  Thine  own.  I 
ask  this,  that  whenever  a  thing  be  wrong  it  may  have  no 
power  of  temptation  over  me,  and  whenever  a  thing  be 
right  it  may  take  no  courage  to  do  it."  "  And,"  observed 
Mr.  Phillips  in  later  years,  "  I  have  never  found  anything 
that  impressed  me  as  being  wrong,  exerting  any  tempta- 

268 


INDEPENDENT  MISSIONS  269 

tion  over  me,  nor  has  it  required  any  courage  on  my  part  to 
do  whatever  I  beheved  to  be  right." 

What  a  key  to  a  human  life !  In  that  supreme  hour  his 
higher  moral  nature,  with  God's  help,  subjugated  his  lower 
self;  and  for  him,  henceforth,  there  was  no  compromise 
with  animal  passion,  carnal  ambition,  selfishness,  cupidity, 
or  any  other  debasing  inclination ;  they  were  "  suppliants 
at  the  feet  of  his  soul." 

The  supreme  motive  both  to  holiness  and  service  is 
found  when  any  man  or  woman  can  say  from  the  heart, 
"  O  God,  I  belong  to  Thee! "  and  no  other  impulse  is  proof 
against  all  worldly  argument  and  temporary  discourage- 
ment. 

We  are  now  to  look  still  further  at  some  of  those  un- 
dertakings which  aim  at  the  rapid  evangelization  of  the 
world,  but  for  some  reason  have  cut  loose  from  the  ordi- 
nary denominational  and  corporate  methods.  Some  of 
these  are  operating  in  North  Africa,  South  America,  Ko- 
rea, etc. — but  one — the  China  Inland  Mission — stands  out 
conspicuous,  and  may  be  taken  as  an  example  of  all,  as  it  is, 
perhaps,  entitled  to  outrank  the  rest,  both  from  priority  in 
time  and  scriptural  simplicity  of  method.  Its  history,  now 
put  into  a  printed  record,  deserves  careful  perusal  by  those 
who  would  more  minutely  look  into  one  of  the  most  roman- 
tic, heroic,  and  inspiring  chapters  which  modern  missions 
has  added  to  the  unfinished  "  Acts  of  the  Apostles."* 

When  the  history  of  this  enterprise  covered  little  more 
than  a  quarter  century,  already  its  stations  were  scat- 
tered over  an  area  continental  in  extent;  its  missionary 
force  numbered  nearly  700,  with  about  350  native  help- 
ers,— a  total  working  force  of  about  1,000 — reporting 
about  250  stations  and  outstations,  over  5,200  communi- 
cants, and  18,000  adherents,  having  added  850  in  the  year; 


♦  "  story  of  the  China  Inland  Mission."  Geraldine  Quinness.  P.  H.  Revell 
Co. 


i70  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

66  schools,  with  880  pupils,  and  an  income  for 
the  year  of  nearly  170,000  dollars.  Interdenomina- 
tional from  the  first,  and  now  international,  it  has  given 
such  ample  scope  for  testing  the  practibility  of  the  princi- 
ples which  underlie  it  and  the  methods  which  it  advocates, 
that  there  is  a  certain  obligation  to  examine  candidly  and 
carefully  into  its  annals,  that  we  may  see  how  far  God 
may  be  behind  it,  teaching  us  all  some  great  lessons. 

Its  founder.  Rev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor,  himself  asserts  that 
"  the  firm  belief  in  the  plenary  and  verbal  inspiration  of 
God's  Word  lies  behind  the  whole  work ;  it  is  assumed  that 
His  promises  mean  exactly  what  they  say,  and  that  His 
commands  are  to  be  obeyed  in  the  confidence  that  *  all 
things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth.'  "  He  adds :  "  a 
personal  experience  of  more  than  forty  years  has  grow- 
ingly  confirmed  this  confidence,  and  has  shown  us  ever  new 
directions  in  which  to  apply  it.  We  were  early  led  to  trust 
the  Lord  to  supply  pecuniary  needs  in  answer  to  prayer, 
and  then  to  obtain,  in  the  same  way,  fellow  workers  and 
open  doors;  but  we  did  not  learn,  till  later,  what  it  is  to 
'  abide  in '  Christ,  and  to  find  spiritual  need  all  met,  and 
keeping  power  through  faith  in  Him.  More  recently  the 
infilling  and  refilling  with  the  Holy  Spirit  has  taken  a 
place  among  us,  as  a  mission,  that  it  had  not  before;  and 
we  feel  that  we  are  still  only  beginning  to  apprehend  what 
God  can  do  through  little  bands  of  fully  yielded,  fully 
trusting,  overflowingly  filled  believers. 

"  Thus  we  have  come  to  value  missionary  work,  not 
merely  for  the  sake  of  the  heathen,  but  also  as  a  spiritual 
education  for  the  missionary,  who,  in  the  field  learns,  as 
never  at  home,  to  find  Christ  a  living,  bright  reality ;  nor 
is  the  education  confined  to  the  missionary,  but  blesses  also 
the  beloved  ones  at  home,  who,  having  '  nothing  too  pre- 
cious for  the  Lord  Jesus,'  have  given  up  their  dearest  and 
best,  and  who  share  in  their  hundred-fold  reward.     Such 


INDEPENDENT  MISSIONS  271 

prove  that  it  is  indeed  *  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  re- 
ceive/ and  the  whole  church  at  home  is  not  less  blessed 
than  the  heathen  abroad."* 

This  testimony  of  the  founder  of  the  China  Inland  Mis- 
sion we  give  thus  fully,  because  he  is  entitled  to  be  heard 
in  explanation  of  his  own  course,  and  in  interpretation  of 
the  history  inseparable  from  his  personal  convictions  and 
endeavors.  It  will  thus  be  seen  at  the  outset,  how  em- 
phatically the  brief  sentence  which  opens  this  chapter  may 
be  written  over  this  whole  work :  "  O,  God,  I  belong  to 
Thee!" 

God  demands  on  the  part  of  His  true  servants,  a  perfect 
and  perpetual  surrender  unto  Him,  without  reservation  or 
limitation.  We  take  Him,  as  He  takes  us,  once  and  for 
all,  or  not  at  all.  He  will  not  consent  to  be  made  a  liar  by 
our  disbelief,  to  be  dishonored  by  our  distrustful  experi- 
ments, or  to  accept  our  self-offerings  under  any  conditions 
as  to  service  or  suffering,  sphere  of  labor  or  length  of 
time.  We  are  to  give  ourselves  to  him  beyond  recall,  and 
bear  the  self-surrender  in  constant  remembrance.  These 
conditions  are  not  arbitrary  or  unreasonable,  but  are  the 
necessary  and  indispensable  requisites  to  a  true  consecra- 
tion. God  can  not  receive  us,  we  can  not  become  His,  in 
any  other  way  or  on  any  other  terms ;  and  above  all  must 
such  surrender  prepare  us  for  any  large,  spiritual,  success- 
ful mission  to  a  dying  world.  We  may  well  afford  to 
study  the  history  of  any  work  which  is  conspicuously 
blessed  of  God,  and  discover  if  possible  the  secrets  of  such 
blessing  and  success. 

In  the  autumn  of  i860,  Mr.  Taylor  came  back  to  Eng- 
land, after  seven  years  of  absence  in  China,  years  of 
strange  providential  preparation  for  the  great  enterprise  he 
was  to  launch.  At  this  time  no  definite  thought  of  at- 
tempting any  such  stupendous  work  as  the  evangelization 

*  The  italics  and  capitals  are  Mr.  Taylor's. 


272  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

of  Inland  China  had  yet  entered  his  mind.  To  go  even  one 
hundred  miles  inland  implied  a  long  and  perilous  journey; 
and,  with  notable  exception  of  Rev.  Griffith  John  and 
Mr.  A.  Wylie,  the  far  interior  had  never  yet  been  pene- 
trated with  the  Gospel. 

But  on  the  wall  of  Mr.  Taylor's  room  hung  a  large  map 
of  China,  and  when  his  eye  fell  upon  it,  eighteen  poptdous 
provinces  stood  out,  in  deep  black,  as  all  enveloped  in  a 
darkness  that  might  be  felt.  And  from  that  map  he  turned 
to  the  Book,  which  said  "  Ye  are  the  Light  of  the  world;  " 
and  the  question  would  recur  constantly:  There  a  mid- 
night ;  here  the  Sun  of  Righteousness ;  how  may  that  Sun 
be  made  to  shine  in  that  night?  Mr.  Taylor  and  his  col- 
league, Mr.  Gough,  could  not  rest  without  laying  this 
whole  matter  before  the  Lord,  and  they  found  them- 
selves on  their  knees  pleading  that  somehow  God  would 
drive  away  that  awful  darkness  by  sending  forth  His  light 
and  His  truth.  In  two  of  God's  choice  saints,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Berger,  a  symphony  of  desire  and  prayer  was  found ; 
Mr.  Taylor's  pen  began  to  burn  with  his  message,  and 
by  degrees  the  zeal  of  God  more  and  more  controlled 
him. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  could  not  but  see  that  the  church 
as  a  whole  was  slumbering  while  the  world  was  dying. 
Dr.  Duff's  sentence :  "  We  are  playing  at  missions," 
seemed  to  describe  only  too  aptly  and  awfully  that  trifling 
with  the  great  problem  of  a  world's  redemption,  which  al- 
lows fifteen  hundred  millions  of  people  to  perish,  three 
times  a  century,  and  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  with- 
out even  knowing  that  Christ  died  for  them !  At  that  time, 
after  i,8oo  years  of  Christian  history,  eleven  vast  interior 
provinces  of  the  Celestial  Empire,  had  not  one  resident 
Protestant  missionary.  In  China  alone,  at  least  one- tenth 
of  the  whole  race  were  dying  without  Christ,  or  even  the 
opportunity  of  hearing  the  Gospel.   He  felt  the  conviction 


INDEPENDENT  MISSIONS  273 

grow  that  some  new  and  special  agency  for  the  evan- 
gelization of  Inland  China  was  needful,  which  should  dare 
to  trust  God  for  both  the  open  door  into  the  heart  of  the 
Kingdom  and  for  the  men  and  money  to  do  the  work. 

A  question  now  arose  in  his  mind:  God  has  given  me 
light,  and  light  means  responsibility.  I  see  the  need 
clearly ;  why  not  go  ahead  and  trust  God  to  work  out  His 
designs  through  me?  The  thought  had  a  grip  on  him 
and  would  not  let  go.  It  was  early  in  the  year  1865,  when 
this  conflict  began  to  be  intense  in  his  soul,  and  unbe- 
lief was  battling  with  faith,  and  self-distrust  with  confi- 
dence in  God  for  the  victory.  Sleep  almost  fled  from  his 
eyes.  The  sense  of  bloodguiltiness  for  the  million  a 
month  who  were  dying  in  China,  was  both  a  load  on  his 
heart  and  a  goad  to  his  conscience.  And,  on  June  ist,  at 
Mr.  Berger's  chapel,  he  appealed  for  intercession  with  God, 
that  suitable  men  and  means  might  be  furnished  for  the 
evangelization  of  these  destitute  eleven  provinces.  But 
at  this  time  Hudson  Taylor  had  not  got  to  the  point 
of  self-surrender  as  himself  one  of  this  new  band — not  to 
say  as  the  leader. 

An  invitation  to  rest  for  a  few  days  at  Brighton,  brought 
him  to  an  unexpected  crisis  of  decision.  It  was  Sunday, 
June  25,  1865,  and  the  church  bells  rang.  But  Mr.  Taylor 
could  not  go  to  the  place  of  public  prayer,  for  the  over- 
whelming shadow  of  China's  need  rested  on  him  also,  and 
he  could  not  forget  that,  while  these  assemblies  of  disciples 
were  gathered  in  their  superb  sanctuaries,  rejoicing  in  their 
ample  privileges,  and  heedless  of  the  heathen,  more  than 
one  thousand  souls  in  China  would  pass  into  the  unseen 
world,  Christless.  His  agony  of  soul  drove  him  to  the 
beach,  where  he  could  walk  and  talk  with  God,  looking  out 
on  that  wide  sea — the  fitting  symbol  of  the  awful  ocean  of 
eternity,  which  was  swallowing  up  all  these  vast  millions 
.while  its  unrippled  calm  was  undisturbed  by  their  doom. 


274  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

On  those  sands,  this  humble  man,  alone  with  God  met 
the  crisis  of  his  life.  "  God  can  give  the  men  to  go  to  China, 
and  God  can  keep  them  there ; "  this  was  the  voice  that 
spoke  to  him.  The  decision  was  made :  "  Thou  Lord  shalt 
be  responsible  for  them.,  and  for  me,  too."  The  burden  was 
gone.  Hudson  Taylor  first  gave  himself  to  the  Lord  for 
China,  and  then  asked  for  those  who  should  go  with  him: 
twenty-four  in  all — two  for  each  of  the  eleven  provinces, 
and  two  more  for  Mongolia.  On  the  margin  of  his  Bible 
he  at  once  wrote  down  this  brief  sentence,  which  remains 
the  simple  record  of  that  momentous  transaction  with  the 
God  of  the  covenant : 

''Prayed  for  twenty-four  willing,  skillful  laborers,  at 
Brighton,  June  25,  1865." 

Mr.  Taylor  was  at  this  time  thirty-three  years  old — as 
his  Lord  was,  when  He  went  to  the  Calvary  where  He 
bore  our  sins.  The  plan  of  the  China  Inland  Mission 
slowly  took  shape.  It  must  be  wholly  according  to  the 
mind  of  God,  for  otherwise  prayer  would  lose  its  power  to 
claim  blessing.  The  mission  must  therefore  be: 

1.  Interdenominational. — Catholic,  evangelical,  and  so 
both  inviting  and  embracing  all  sympathetic  disciples  who 
were  willing  to  cooperate. 

2.  Spiritual. — No  intellectual,  social  or  personal  ac- 
complishments ;  no  wealth,  rank  or  position,  could  atone 
for  the  lack  of  a  thoroughly  spiritual  type  of  character  in 
the  workers  and  the  administrators.  Educational  advan- 
tages, tho  not  to  be  despised,  must  be  supplemented  by 
gifts  and  graces  of  the  Spirit. 

3.  Scriptural. — Debt  must  never  be  incurred.  No  regu- 
lar salaries  could  be  pledged,  for  this  implies  an  assured 
and  definite  income.  Whatever  God  gave,  would  be  used 
as  given,  for  the  work  and  the  workers,  and  only  those  who 
were  prepared  to  accept  this  basis  would  be  accepted. 

4.  Voluntary. — The  supply  both  of  men  and  women, 


INDEPENDENT  MISSIONS  275 

and  of  means,  must  be  through  free-hearted  self-oflfering 
and  offerings  of  substance.  Appeals  to  be  avoided  as  tend- 
ing first  to  undue  dependence  on  human  effort;  second, 
to  impulsive  and  unconsecrated  giving ;  third,  to  diversion 
of  attention  from  God  as  the  supplier  of  all  need.  Appeals 
to  men  dishonor  God,  and  mislead  men,  for  they  imply  that 
God  is  unduly  dependent  on  human  gifts.  Hence  it  was 
determined  to  make  no  collections  in  connection  with  the 
mission  meetings,  but  leave  the  hearer  to  contribute  after- 
ward as  mature  thought  and  prayer  might  dictate. 

5.  Prayerful. — Literally  full  of  prayer.  The  noontide 
hour,  then  given  up  to  a  household  meeting,  at  the  throne 
of  grace,  for  China,  and  the  Saturday  afternoon  larger 
meeting  for  the  same  purpose,  set  the  key  to  the  concert  of 
prayer  that  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  never  failed. 

A  short  sentence  of  twenty-four  words  expresses  what 
was  felt  to  be  the  supreme  need :  "  to  get  God's  man,  in 
God's  place,  doing  God's  zvork  in  God's  way,  for  God's 
glory."    "  God  alone  is  suificient  for  God's  own  work." 

Another  twenty-four  words  embody  what  God  seemed 
to  say  to  Mr.  Taylor  as  in  an  audible  voice :  "  I  am  going  to 
open  Inland  China  to  the  Gospel:  if  you  will  enter  into  My 
plea,  I  will  use  you  for  this  work." 

These  were  the  days  when  conventions  were  beginning 
to  be  held  for  promotion  of  spiritual  life,  but  the  missionary 
appeal  was  seldom  heard  in  them ;  and  just  then  Mr.  Tay- 
lor found  himself  in  Perth  at  the  annual  conference.  He 
himself  had  been  a  beloved  fellow-worker  of  William 
Burns,  and  this  happy  link  gave  him  access  to  the  leaders 
of  the  conference;  and  he  asked  that  he  might  say  a  few 
words  for  the  Middle  Kingdom  and  its  needy  provinces. 
This  was  the  surprising  response :  "  It  is  quite  out  of  the 
question;  you  surely  misunderstand;  these  meetings  are 
for  EDIFICATION !  "  Persistence  again  prevailed,  and  Mr. 
Taylor  got  a  chance — twenty  minutes  only — at  the  mom- 


276  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ing  meeting.  Doubly  shy,  because  his  native  timidity  was 
intensified  by  the  reluctance  of  the  permission  given,  he 
rose,  stood  silent  a  moment,  unable  to  begin,  and  then 
quietly  said :  '"  Let  us  pray."  Five  minutes  of  his  twenty 
were  taken  up  in  getting  boldness  from  God  to  use  the 
other  fifteen  for  China  and  China's  Savior.  That  lifted  the 
load,  and  he  first  told  of  a  drowning  Chinaman  and  the  in- 
diflference  of  bystanders  to  his  fate ;  then,  like  Nathan,  ap- 
plied his  parable,  and  said :  "  Thou  art  the  man !  "  And 
so  Hudson  Taylor  began  his  convention  work.  And  where 
is  the  conference  that  now  would  not  welcome  him  ? 

As  the  days  came  when  the  actual  bearing  of  the  bur- 
dens of  this  new  mission  began  to  bow  down  the  backs 
of  those  who  had  undertaken  it,  at  times  it  seemed  as  tho 
a  horror  of  deep  darkness  was  upon  them.  What  if,  after 
all,  money  were  not  forthcoming,  and  workers  should  be 
starving  in  Inland  China,  and  the  whole  work  become  a 
by-word  of  derision  and  reproach!  The  last  day  of  the 
year,  1865,  was  set  apart  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer. 
Each  one  of  that  little  band  of  praying  souls  sought  to 
keep  in  such  close  harmony  with  God,  that  the  symphony 
of  prayer  might  be  music  in  His  ear  as  well  as  in  their 
own.   And,  as  of  Jacob  at  Peniel,  it  may  be  written :  "  and 

HE  BLESSED  THEM  THERE."    vSo  COUSpicUOUS  waS  the  bleSS- 

ing  received  that  day,  that  December  31st  has  been  for 
twenty-five  years  the  annual  prayer  and  praise  feast  of  the 
mission  both  abroad  and  at  home. 

From  this  point  on,  also  the  history  of  the  China  Inland 
Mission  seems  to  those  who  have  watched  its  whole  course, 
like  the  footsteps  of  God.  On  February  6,  1866,  special 
prayer  was  offered  at  noon  that  the  Lord  would  graciously 
incline  His  people  to  send  in  from  £1,500  to  £2,000  to  meet 
the  expenses  of  the  outgoing  party  of  ten  brethren  and 
sisters  who  had  offered  to  accompany  Hudson  Taylor.  On 
March  12th  following,  before  the  first  printed  statement 


INDEPENDENT  MISSIONS  277 

of  the  work  was  in  circulation,  over  1,970  pounds  had  come 
in  unasked,  save  of  God.  The  need  was  more  than  met  be- 
fore the  want  had  been  made  known  to  the  Christian  pubHc. 

Thus  early  in  the  mission  this  lesson  was  taught  and 
learned,  that  if  there  were  less  pleading  with  man  and  re- 
liance on  man,  for  money,  and  more  pleading  with  God, 
and  dependence  on  His  Spirit,  to  guide  in  the  work  and  to 
deepen  the  spiritual  life  of  God's  people,  the  problem  of 
missions  might  find  its  solution.  During  this  whole  subse- 
quent history  it  has  been  found  that  God  has  met  every 
special  need  by  a  special  supply,  and  that  when  the  special 
need  ceased,  so  did  the  supply.  The  whole  party  that  first 
sailed  May  26,  1866,  numbered  twenty-one,  including  chil- 
dren. 

On  May  2,  before  sailing,  Hudson  Taylor  spoke  on 
China  at  Totteridge  near  London,  and  it  was  thought  to 
be  a  mistake  that  he  declined  to  have  any  collection  taken 
at  the  meeting.  His  host,  the  chairman,  had  remonstrated 
against  his  not  striking  while  the  iron  was  hot,  but  Mr. 
Taylor  quietly  assured  him  that  he  wished  to  avoid  the 
impression  that  the  main  thing  wanted  was  money,  and 
added  that,  if  there  was  a  true  self-surrender,  all  else 
would  follow.  His  host  next  morning  acknowledged  that 
he  had  passed  a  restless  night ;  that  if  he  had  had  his  way, 
the  collection  would  have  been  taken,  and  he  would  have 
put  in  a  few  guineas ;  but  that  further  reflection  and  prayer 
had  satisfied  him  that  such  gift  would  have  been  only  an 
evasion  of  duty,  whereupon  he  handed  Mr.  Taylor  a  check 
for  500  pounds  sterling. 

The  voyage  to  China  on  the  Lammermuir  was  itself  a 
mission  to  the  unsaved ;  twenty  of  the  crew  found  the  Sa- 
vior, and  among  them,  some  of  the  most  unlikely  at  the 
first ;  in  fact,  the  opposers  all  came  over.  But  the  voyage 
was  not  without  trials.  Two  typhoons  struck  the  vessel, 
even  the  sailors  gave  up  hope,  and  the  life-belts  were  got- 


278  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

ten  out  in  readiness  for  the  worst.  But  God  wrought  de- 
liverance from  shipwreck — a  type  of  many  other  deUver- 
ances,  all  His  own.  A  subscription  of  more  than  120 
dollars  from  the  officers  and  crew  was  a  sufficient  witness 
to  the  fact  that  God  had  been  with  this  mission  party  on 
the  outgoing  voyage. 

These  pages  are  not  the  place  for  extended  accounts.  It 
was  marvellous,  however,  how  needs  and  supplies  exactly 
corresponded,  in  amounts  of  money  and  fitness  of  time, 
so  that  another  motto  was  suggested :  "  God's  clocks  keep 
perfect  time." 

The  year  1867  opened  with  united  prayer,  that  God 
would  extend  and  advance  the  work,  and  closed  with  the 
opening  of  the  great  city  of  Wan-chow  to  the  Gospel, 
Siao-shan,  Tai-chau,  and  Nan-King,  having  also  been 
occupied.  The  number  of  stations  had  doubled,  and  the 
border  had  been  crossed  into  Kiang-su  province. 

The  little  band  had  to  face  the  risk  of  death  in  the  Yang- 
Chow  riot,  but  God  kept  them  in  the  midst  of  great  perils, 
and  showed  himself  their  avenger  also;  for  all  those  who 
zvere  concerned  in  that  outbreak,  singularly  fell  into  trou- 
ble. The  prefect  and  his  son  lost  their  lives,  their  property 
was  pillaged,  and  the  family  reduced  to  beggary;  the  dis- 
trict magistrate,  the  w^hole  family  of  one  of  the  chief 
inciters  of  the  riot,  and  the  leader  in  ruffianism  became 
infamous ;  so  that  the  people  feared  to  join  in  any  further 
violence  against  those  whom  God  so  defended. 

When  Mrs.  Taylor  died  in  1891,  and  his  partner  in 
prayers  was  no  more  on  earth,  Mr.  Taylor  said  to  the 
Lord  :  "  Be  Thou  my  partner  in  supplication,  as  well  as 
my  High  Priestly  intercessor,"  and  another  step  was  taken 
in  fellowship  with  the  Great  Friend,  who  said :  "  Lo,  I  am 
with  you  alway." 

The  gradual  opening  of  Inland  China  to  the  Gospel,  and 
the  growth  and  influence  of  woman's  work  in  the  far  in- 


INDEPENDENT  MISSIONS  27$ 

terior;  the  itinerary  preaching  that  covered  30,000  miles 
in  two  years,  through  regions  beyond,  hitherto  almost  un- 
visited ;  and  especially  that  most  memorable  prayer-meeting 
for  seventy  nezv  workers  within  three  years;  the  faith  that 
took  God  at  His  word  and  turned  that  prayer-meeting  into 
one  of  praise  in  anticipation  of  answered  prayer,  and  the 
glorious  answer  that  followed  long  before  the  three  years 
expired — the  story  of  "  the  hundred  "  given  in  the  year 
when  the  mission  reached  its  majority — all  this,  and  far 
more,  we  have  to  pass  by  without  further  reference.  The 
work  has  now  included  America,  Europe,  Australia  in  its 
scope,  and  embraces  councils  in  five  lands,  which  send  out 
and  support  their  ow^n  representatives. 

To  only  one  more  thing  we  tarry  to  call  attention :  It  is 
to  the  careful  and  admirable  financial  system  of  the  China 
Inland  Mission.  More  than  one  promising  scheme  has 
been  wrecked,  losing  public  confidence  by  mismanagement 
or  arbitrary  and  irresponsible  use  of  its  funds.  Those  who 
sustain  a  work  have  a  right,  first  to  know  what  is  done  with 
the  money  given,  and  then  to  some  voice  in  the  conduct 
of  the  work.  There  is  a  great  risk  of  autocracy  in  the 
Lord's  affairs.  Sometimes  a  man  with  whom  a  new  bar 
nevolent  enterprise  originates,  either  determines  to  keep  the 
whole  matter  in  his  own  hands,  or  does  it  without  delib- 
erate design.  His  head  becomes  its  office  and  his  pocket  its 
treasury.  The  work  enlarges  and  the  constituency  of  sup- 
porters grows  correspondingly,  but  he  continues  to  be  the 
factotum.  His  judgment  is  the  final  court,  perhaps  the 
only  court  of  appeal.  He  gives  no  account  to  anybody, 
and,  even  without  the  loss  of  faith  in  his  honesty,  faith  is 
lost  in  his  wisdom,  charity,  and  respect  for  the  rights  of 
his  brethren ;  until,  by  and  by^  the  work  itself  can  longer 
"prosper  only  as  it  cuts  loose  from  connection  with  him. 
We  have  seen  at  least  seven  such  forms  of  good  service 
split  on  this  rock  of  autocratic  management. 


23o  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Geo.  Miiller,  Hudson  Taylor,  and  others  like  them,  have 
had  the  sanctified  common  sense  to  see  that,  when  a  work 
develops,  its  management  should  broaden  also — and  so 
they  have  associated  with  themselves  a  competent  council 
of  sympathetic  advisers.  But  especially  is  it  noticeable 
how  transparent  the  financial  methods  of  the  China  Inland 
Mission  are.  Every  penny  given  is  first  acknowledged  to 
the  donor  or  the  parties  through  whom  it  comes,  by  a 
numbered  receipt ;  then,  in  the  published  report,  the  amount 
is  again  acknowledged  and  can  be  distinguished  by  its 
number,  so  that  every  gift,  large  or  small  can  be  traced. 
There  is  no  chance  either  for  misappropriation  of  funds, 
or  for  their  appropriation  by  the  autocratic  and  independent 
head  of  the  whole  work  who  does  as  he  pleases.  Such 
transparent  conduct  of  money  matters  inspires  the  full 
faith  of  the  Christian  public,  and  is  partly  the  secret  of  this 
remarkable  and  unprecedented  growth. 

The  China  Inland  Mission  is  fallible  and  imperfect,  and 
no  doubt  makes  mistakes,  but  there  are  about  it  great  at- 
tractions. 

Its  founder  has  sought  to  impress  on  all  connected  with 
it,  the  need  of  humility.  Spurgeon  used  to  tell  of  a  certain 
alchemist  who  waited  upon  Leo  X.  declaring  that  he  had 
discovered  how  to  transmute  the  baser  metals  into  gold, 
expecting  to  receive  a  sum  of  money  for  his  discovery. 
Leo  was  no  such  simpleton;  he  merely  gave  him  a  huge 
purse  in  which  to  keep  the  gold  which  he  would  make. 
There  was  wisdom  as  well  as  sarcasm  in  the  present.  That 
is  precisely  what  God  often  does  with  proud  men:  He 
lets  them  have  the  opportunity  to  do  what  they  boast  of 
being  able  to  do.  Not  a  solitary  gold  piece  was  dropped 
into  that  purse,  and  we  shall  never  be  spiritually  rich  by 
what  we  can  do  in  our  own  strength.  Be  stripped  of  self 
confidence  and  be  clothed  with  humility;  and  then  God 
may  be  pleased  to  clothe  you  with  honor ;  but  not  till  then. 


INDEPENDENT  MISSIONS  281 

Dr.  Payson  said ;  "  The  most  of  my  sufferings  and  sor- 
rows were  occasioned  by  my  unwillingness  to  be  nothing, 
which  I  am,  and  by  struggling  to  be  something." 

Another  fundamental  principle  constantly  impressed  on 
all  these  mission  workers  is  absolute  absorption  in  God, 
without  which  there  is  no  real  dependence  on  Him  or  con- 
fidence in  Him.  How  often  one  recalls  the  sublimity  of  that 
quiet  resolution  of  President  Edwards :  ""  Resolved,  that  I 
will  do  whatsoever  I  think  to  be  most  for  God's  glory  and 
my  own  good,  profit  and  pleasure,  on  the  whole,  n^thout 
any  consideration  of  the  time,  whether  now,  ifr  never  so 
many  myriads  of  ages  hence?"  This  is  surveying  and 
laying  out  a  track  through  eternity !  And  the  deeper  and 
more  quiet  the  solitude,  the  better  it  will  be  done.  Such 
absorption  in  God  is  the  only  basis  of  an  unchanging 
fixedness  of  purpose,  our  will  being  both  lost  and  saved  in 
union  with  His,  losing  its  own  carnal  wilfulness  and  gain- 
ing His  divine  energy.  Hear  Sir  Thomas  Powell  Bulton : 
"  The  longer  I  live,  the  more  I  am  certain  that  the  great 
difference  between  men — between  the  feeble  and  the  pow- 
erful, the  great  and  the  insignificant — is  energy,  invincible 
determination,  a  purpose  once  fixed  on,  and  then  death  or 
victory.  This  quality  will  do  anything  that  can  be  done 
in  the  world ;  and  no  talents,  no  circumstances,  no  oppor- 
tunities, will  make  a  two-legged  creature  a  man  with- 
out it." 

Once  more  the  China  Inland  Mission  seeks  to  im- 
press the  great  law  of  fellowship  with  God  in  His  work. 
Hence  comes  the  confidence  that  He  will  supply  both  men 
and  means.  Let  the  old  story  of  "  A  Loan  to  the  Lord," 
teach  us  a  lesson  in  its  quaint  way.  A  poor  man  with  an 
empty  purse  came  one  day  to  Michael  Feneberg,  the  godly 
pastor  of  Seeg,  in  Bavaria,  and  begged  three  crowns  that 
he  might  finish  his  journey.  It  was  all  the  money  Feneberg 
had,  but  as  he  besought  him  so  earnestly  in  the  name  of 


28  2  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Jesus,  he  gave  it.  Immediately  after,  he  found  himself 
in  great  outward  need,  and,  seeing  no  way  of  relief  he 
prayed,  saying :  "  Lord,  I  lent  Thee  three  crowns ;  Thou 
hast  not  yet  returned  them,  and  Thou  knowest  how  I  need 
them.  Lord,  I  pray  Thee,  give  them  back."  The  same 
day  a  messenger  brought  a  money-letter,  which  Gossner,  his 
assistant,  reached  over  to  Feneberg,  saying : ''  Here,  father, 
is  what  you  expended."  The  letter  contained  about  200 
thalers,  or  about  $150,  which  the  poor  traveler  had  begged 
from  a  rich  man  for  the  vicar ;  and  the  childlike  old  man, 
in  joyful  amusement,  cried  out :  '^  Ah,  dear  Lord,  one  dare 
ask  nothing  of  Thee,  for  straightway  Thou  makest  one 
feel  so  much  ashamed! " 


CHAPTER  XXII 

INDIVIDUAL    LINKS    BETWEEN    GIVERS    AND    THE    MISSION 

FIELD 

A  PRACTICAL  problem  now  occupying  the  wisest  and  best 
minds,  is,  how  to  secure,  from  cheerful  givers  at  home,  a 
hearty  and  unfailing  support  for  workers  abroad,  or  on 
the  borders  of  civilization  in  the  home  land.  Great  as  is 
the  need  of  sending  a  larger  force  to  the  field,  the  question 
pressing  just  now,  with  tremendous  weight,  is  how  to  kee^ 
the  laborers  already  in  the  field,  and  prevent  disastrous  re- 
trenchment. On  every  side,  and  in  every  direction,  grand 
undertakings  are  at  risk.  Debts,  so  enormous  as  almost  to 
wreck  boards  representing  home  and  foreign  missions,  and 
deficiencies  so  crippling  to  all  aggressive  action  as  to  com- 
pel retrenchment  instead  of  advance,  have  caused  a  chronic 
alarm  and  apprehension  that  are  paralyzing  to  all  hopeful 
enterprise.  It  is  only  great  faith  in  God  that  dares  take 
one  step  forward  and  onward  when  the  work  presents  such 
an  aspect  and  prospect. 

Devout  souls  stand  in  the  presence  of  such  a  crisis  with 
the  deep  conviction  that  it  is  both  needless  and  shameful. 
There  are  both  money  and  piety  enough  to  remedy  all 
these  evils  and  supply  all  these  deficiencies,  were  the  money 
and  the  piety  only  made  available.  In  nature,  power  and 
energy  have  always  been  present,  but  not  always  properly 
applied.  And  so  the  connecting  links  seem  somehow  want- 
ing between  Christians  at  home  and  the  work  and  workers 
abroad.    Dr.  Thomas  C.  Upham  has  said,  *  that  there  is  in 

*  Life  of  Faith.    300  p. 

a83 


284  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

every  commonwealth,  "  a  conservative  body  of  men  who, 
in  their  freedom  from  passion,  can  estimate  the  just  claims 
of  truth,  and,  in  the  strength  of  moral  and  religious  prin- 
ciple, will  at  all  hazards  do  what  is  right."  And  hence, 
"  when  great  constitutional  and  moral  questions  are  at 
stake,  the  results  have  generally  been  favorable  to  law 
and  truth,  in  consequence  of  the  accession,  at  the  precise 
moment  of  danger,  of  those  of  all  denominations  of  per- 
sons, who,  in  their  devotion  to  rectitude  of  principle,  have 
declined  to  recognize  the  coercions  of  party  discipline,  and 
who  constitute  the  genuine  *  Imperial  Guard '  or  '  Mace- 
donian Phalanx,'  who  strike  only  at  the  moment  of  im- 
minent hazard,  and  whose  moral  strength  renders  them 
invincible." 

The  Church  of  God  is  the  hope  of  all  good  enterprises, 
and  within  its  sacred  inclosure  is  the  very  "  Body-guard  of 
the  King" — a  company  of  prayerful,  intelligent,  consecrated 
men  and  women,  sufficient  in  number,  efficient  in  faculty, 
and  withal  not  deficient  in  either  sympathy  for  holy  activ- 
ity or  in  self-sacrifice  for  its  promotion ;  and,  if  this  body 
of  saints  could  be  brought  into  vital  touch  with  the  work 
of  missions,  money  and  workers  would  be  continually 
forthcoming;  there  would  be  alike  men  in  the  field  and 
"  meat  in  God's  house."  It  is  the  link  of  connection  that  is 
lacking.  The  majority  of  disciples  know  little  of  the  wants 
of  the  field,  and  so  feel  little  the  needs  and  claims  of  the 
work.  Their  minds  and  hearts,  consciences  and  sym- 
pathies, have  not  yet  been  really  enlisted.  If  any  impres- 
sion has  been  made,  it  has  been  occasional  and  incidental, 
and  hence  the  response  has  been  spasmodic  and  impulsive. 
But  in  them  lie  the  latent  possibilities  of  vast  increase  in 
all  that  aids  the  best  enterprises  of  the  Church — the  motor 
which  needs  only  proper  machinery  to  connect  it  with  the 
work. 

When  any  temporal  disaster,  like  plague  or  famine, 


INDIVIDUAL  LINKS  285 

makes  its  appeal,  money  flows  in  streams,  and  sometimes 
in  floods.  The  difference  lies  here :  the  appeal  in  the  latter 
case  is  loud  and  strong,  echoed  by  every  newspaper,  em- 
phasized in  every  sermon  and  public  meeting  for  relief. 
The  calamity  that  is  present  or  threatening  becomes  every- 
where the  current  topic  of  conversation.  There  is  no 
eluding  its  clamorous  demand  for  help,  and  knowledge  of 
facts  kindles  sympathy  and  sympathy  loosens  purse-strings 
and  heart-strings.  Can  not  the  perishing  millions  who 
know  not  the  Gospel,  be  so  brought  practically  into  prox- 
imity with  the  millions  of  disciples  who  really  love  the 
Master,  and  are  ready  to  respond  to  His  command  and  to 
their  claims,  as  that  a  constant  stream  of  consecrated  gifts 
may  be  secured  beyond  the  risk  of  all  this  uncertainty  ? 

It  is  our  deliberate,  prayerful,  and  mature  judgment, 
that  no  one  thing  would  do  more  to  secure  a  prompt,  per- 
manent, and  altogether  unprecedented  advance  in  missions, 
than  the  plan,  now  steadily  growing  in  favor  and  in  suc- 
cess— of  supporting  individual  missionaries  in  the  Held  by 
individual  contributions. 

Nothing  is  more  needed  in  all  missionary  aggressive 
enterprise  than  three  grand  conditions :  Knowledge  of  the 
Held,  sympathy  zvith  the  worker,  and  prayerful  interest  in 
the  work.  When  these  are  secured,  gifts  pour  in  without 
special  appeals  and  without  cessation.  One  method  of 
supplying  all  these  conditions  readily  suggests  itself.  Any 
man  or  woman  of  a  family  that  is  immediately  linked  to 
the  missionary  cause  by  the  support  of  a  missionary,  wilj 
naturally  come  to  know  the  field,  to  feel  oneness  with  the 
worker,  and  to  pray  interestedly  for  the  work  and  its 
progress.  In  Britain,  hundreds  of  families,  as  such,  sup- 
port one  or  more  missionaries,  in  some  cases  one  of  their 
own  number,  and  in  others,  of  the  church  or  denomination 
to  which  they  belong.  And  in  such  cases  there  are  uni- 
formly found  an  intelligence  as  to  missions,  a  deep  per- 


286  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

sonal  sympathy  with  missionaries,  an  absorbing  interest  in 
the  work  and  in  the  people  among  whom  it  is  done,  a  higli 
standard  of  giving,  and  a  high  level  of  praying,  not  com- 
monly met  with  under  any  other  circumstances. 

For  example  a  Scottish  family — a  poor  family — gave 
one,  two,  three  sons  to  missions.  One  of  them  became 
disabled,  and  his  sister  went  and  took  his  place,  and  two  of 
the  grandchildren  followed — six  from  one  house.  Need 
it  be  said  that  in  that  household  the  standard  of  knowl- 
edge, zeal,  prayer  and  giving,  was  very  high?  Another 
family — that  of  a  Scottish  knight — sent  a  daughter  to 
India  as  a  fully  equipped  medical  missionary ;  the  effect  on 
the  whole  family  life  was  uplifting,  and  that  family  be- 
came itself  a  little  missionary  society,  with  all  the  condi- 
tions of  success.  Again  a  family — comparatively  wealthy 
— resolved  to  give,  pound  for  pound,  and  shilling  for  shil- 
ling, to  the  support  of  missionaries,  the  amount  spent  on 
home  expenses.  That  house  is  the  gathering-place  of  mis- 
sionaries and  a  school  of  missionary  information.  Both 
the  husband  and  wife  can  discourse  of  missions  in  any 
part  of  the  world  with  intelligence  and  power.  There  is  a 
family  in  Liverpool,  whose  son  is  in  India  in  the  Civil 
Service,  but  himself  practically  a  missionary.  Letters  pass 
to  and  fro,  and  in  that  home  the  condition,  especially  of 
Indian  missions  is  known,  and  a  habitual  giving  is  founcl, 
which  shows  a  world-wide  sympathy.  A  family  in  London 
supports  not  one  but  many  mission  workers,  wholly  or  in 
part,  in  various  fields.  A  framed  list  of  subjects  for  daily 
prayer  is  hung  up  in  plain  sight,  and,  as  each  new  day 
comes,  the  subject  for  that  day  is  conspicuous.  Of  course, 
giving  is  bound  to  go  with  such  praying,  and  the  husband 
and  wife,  each  one  the  independent  possessor  of  a  fortune, 
have  given  up  all  hoarding  of  money  that  they  may  enrich 
others,  and  frugally  avoid  needless  expense  that  they  may 
have  more  to  bestow.    That  home  is  another  missionary 


INDIVIDUAL  LINKS  287 

training-school.  Another  family  of  eleven  sons  and 
daughters  are  all  engaged  in  mission  work  of  some  sort; 
the  city  of  London  is  their  field.  One  of  them  is  training 
for  the  foreign  field  and  has  offered  himself;  and  there 
again  all  the  conditions  are  met,  high  intelligence,  earnest 
prayer,  fervent  sympathy,  and  habitual  giving.  Such  ex- 
amples might  be  multiplied  without  limit.  But  these  jus- 
tify and  illustrate  the  principle,  which  is  all  that  is  needed. 

Before  being  confronted  with  such  examples,  the  writer, 
in  the  year  1870,  proposed  to  a  church,  of  which  he  was 
then  pastor,  that  the  young  men  should  form  themselves 
into  a  missionary  circle,  and  undertake  to  support  a  young 
man  abroad.  The  proposal  proved  a  seed  in  a  congenial 
soil  and  took  root.  A  number  of  the  young  men  thus 
associated  undertook  the  support  of  a  young  missionary 
just  going  to  Japan  and  who  spent  years  there  as  a  mis- 
sionary and  educator.  Need  it  be  said  that  the  standard  of 
knowledge,  praying,  and  giving  in  that  church  rose  to  an 
uncommon  level  ?  In  1869  the  sum  total  of  benevolent  and 
missionary  offerings  reached  about  $1,800;  in  1879  ^^7 
reached  about  $18,000,  for  that  church  was  one  of  the  best 
organized  in  the  country  in  the  matter  of  its  mission  bands 
and  societies,  from  the  "  Rhea  Band "  of  the  Sunday- 
school  up  to  the  adult  organizations. 

In  1883  the  writer  settled  in  Philadelphia,  as  pastor  of 
a  large  body  of  people,  numbering  in  all  from  3,000  to 
4,000,  more  or  less  closely  identified  with  Bethany  church 
and  its  great  Sunday-school.  After  some  few  years  of 
education  in  missions,  taking  up  country  after  country  and 
missionary  heroes  and  heroines,  etc.,  a  band  of  several 
young  people  proposed  to  go  out  to  some  foreign  field  as 
a  colony,  and  Hon.  John  Wanamaker  offered  a  thousand 
dollars  for  the  pastor  to  go  and  prospect  and  locate  the  field 
for  the  colony.  It  was  then  probable  that  the  entire  sup- 
port of  this  mission  band  would  have  been  attempted  by 


288  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

the  church,  as  in  Pastor  Harms'  church  in  Hermannsburg, 
so  long  before.  The  head  of  this  proposed  mission  band 
was  a  young  Welsh  licentiate  and  his  wife,  others  who 
offered  being  simple  artizans  and  tradesmen.  At  that  time 
there  was  presented  to  the  presbytery  a  printed  statement 
covering  all  the  facts,  and  asking  only  for  encouragement. 
It  was  most  graciously  received,  and  referred  to  a  commit- 
tee to  confer  with  the  board ;  and  the  result  was  that  it  was 
deemed  by  the  board  unwise  to  encourage  any  such  inno- 
vation, and  so  the  whole  matter  fell  through.  On  calmly 
reveiwing  the  whole  matter,  there  is  no  doubt  that  there 
would  have  been  a  large  shrinkage  had  the  theory  been 
reduced  to  practice.  Some  of  this  proposing  mission  band 
would  probably  have  "  gone  back  "  when  the  actual  work 
was  undertaken.  No  doubt  much  of  the  glamor  of  enthu- 
siasm would  have  faded  away,  like  Ephraim's  goodness, 
the  morning  cloud,  and  early  dew.  No  doubt  the  con- 
servative policy  of  presbytery  and  the  board  had  much 
worldly  wisdom  back  of  it.  But,  after  all  reductions  and 
deductions  have  been  made,  it  still  remains  true  that,  had 
that  church  sent  one  or  more  missionaries  direct  to  the 
Held  it  might  have  become,  with  the  generous  and  enter- 
prising business  man  who  has  from  the  beginning  been 
practically  at  its  head,  one  of  the  main  feeders  of  missions ! 
Take  the  Presbyterian  Church  as  one  example  of  what 
could  be  done  by  the  individual  missionary  plan.  The 
board  needs  annually,  let  us  say,  $1,000,000  for  the  proper 
prosecution  of  its  existing  missions.  It  has  all  it  can  do 
to  get  this  sum,  tho  it  has  a  membership  of  as  many  souls 
as  it  asks  dollars  annually.  Of  course,  if  this  amount 
could  be  equally  and  proportionately  divided;  if  each 
member  would  give  one  dollar  a  year,  one-third  of  a  cent 
a  day,  the  whole  amount  would  be  raised  without  any  self- 
denial — tho  that  would  be  a  damage  rather  than  an  advan- 
tage.   But  this  result,  simple  as  it  is,  can  not  be  secured, 


INDIVIDUAL  LINKS  289 

The  bulk  even  of  Presbyterian  church-members  give  noth- 
ing !  What  if  out  of  the  whole  denomination  five  hundred 
churches  could  be  found  from  Maine  to  California  that 
would  give  $2,000  each  to  the  support  of  a  missionary 
abroad,  keeping  in  touch  with  him  by  letters,  studying  his 
field,  and  praying  habitually  for  his  work?  We  should 
have  the  $1,000,000,  with  all  the  rest  of  the  denomination 
left  to  work  on  for  surplus  amounts.  Or,  if  1,000  churches 
give  $1,000  each,  the  same  result  is  accomplished. 

In  this  vast  membership  of  about  1,000,000  there  are 
believed  to  be  not  less  than  twenty  thousand  millionaires. 
There  are  no  less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  in  this 
one  denomination  that  represent  an  average  of  ten  million 
each,  or  an  aggregate  sum  of  $2,500,000,000.  How  few  of 
us  know  what  that  sum  means !  If  piled  up^  in  five  dollar 
gold-pieces,  that  aggregate  wealth  would  reach  three  thou- 
sand five  hundred  miles  into  space!  But,  of  course,  mil- 
lionaires are  not  always  or  generally  self-denying  givers. 
But  can  not  there  be  found  1,000  men  or  women  in  this 
whole  Church  that  will  each  undertake,  at  the  cost  annually 
of  $1,000,  to  support  a  missionary  in  the  field?  And  what 
unspeakable  advantage  to  the  givers!  What  increase  of 
knowledge  of  the  field  of  work !  What  increasingly  sym- 
pathetic touch  with  the  missionary  and  through  him  or  her 
with  all  other  fields  and  workers ;  and  what  a  stimulus  to 
prayer,  to  giving,  to  personal  consecration!  What  has 
been  shown  to  be  possible  in  this  one  denomination  is  only 
an  example  of  general  possibilities  if  the  Church  of  God 
were  in  dead  earnest. 

Eighteen  centuries  have  sped  since  our  Lord  gave  his 
final  commission.  To-day  there  remain  at  least  800,000,- 
000  of  human  beings  to  be  reached  with  the  Gospel  mes- 
sage. And  of  these  25,000,000  will  die  during  each  year, 
over  2,000,000  a  month!  At  the  present  rate  of  mission 
progress  the  world  will  never  be  overtaken.     In  fact,  at 


290  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

a  time  when  every  condition  of  the  field  demanded  advance 
and  every  condition  of  the  Church  justified  it,  in  seven 
out  of  ten  missionary  societies  the  decree  went  forth  for 
retrenchment  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  per  cent!  In 
other  words,  with  the  population  increasing  at  the  rate 
of  2,000,000  a  month,  and  proportionately  dying,  the 
Church  of  Christ,  that  aggregates  at  least  fifty  million 
Protestant  members  with  hoarded  wealth  that  defies  com- 
putation, instead  of  sounding  the  silver  trumpet  for  the 
assembling  of  the  camps  and  the  forward  march  around 
the  ark  of  the  covenant,  bids  the  drum  of  a  worldly  selfish- 
ness to  beat  an  ignominious  retreat;  and  we  retire  from 
positions,  gained  at  the  cost  of  blood  and  of  treasure,  and 
of  lives  given  for  Christ ;  we  actually  surrender  from  one- 
fourth  to  one-fifth  of  our  outposts  and  captured  fortresses, 
and  bid  the  foe  once  more  sweep  back  upon  the  territory 
claimed  and  possessed  for  God ! 

And  if  one  nowadays  raises  the  cry  of  alarm,  and  thun- 
ders out  a  remonstrance ;  if  one  declares  that  missions  have 
never  been  in  greater  danger  of  utter  collapse  through  this 
lack  of  adequate  giving,  the  answer,  from  some  fellow- 
believers,  is  ridicule,  rebuke,  stigmatizing  epithets,  such 
as  "  pessimist,"  *'  croaker/'  etc. 

One  grave  consideration  should  be  before  us  as  to  in- 
dividual responsibility.  Untold  disaster  to  Church-work 
has  been  entailed  by  the  withdrawing  and  withholding  of 
offerings  on  the  part  of  those  to  whom  the  local  church 
and  the  denomination  have  a  right  to  look  for  financial  sup- 
port. A  church-member  should  have  very  solid  reasons — 
reasons  that  would  stand  not  only  the  scrutiny  of  an  en- 
lightened conscience,  but  the  searching  inquiry  of  om- 
niscience— who  treats  with  neglect,  indifference,  or  con- 
tempt the  mission  work  of  the  church  and  denomination 
to  which  such  individual  member  belongs.  A  board,  or 
other  representative  committee,  is  but  an  administrative 


INDIVIDUAL  LINKS  291 

body.  It  sends  missionaries  to  the  field  under  the  implied 
pledge  of  the  church  it  represents,  to  stand  behind  it  and 
to  support  them  there ;  and  to  this  implied  covenant  every 
church-member  is  a  necessary  party.  To  allow,  the  mis- 
sionary agency  to  be  crippled  by  an  empty  treasury  and 
half  wrecked  by  debt,  is  something  for  which,  therefore, 
every  church-member  is  responsible,  and  will  be  held  ac- 
countable by  the  Master  of  us  all. 

This  plan  of  thus  directly  connecting  home  churches, 
families,  and  individual  givers  with  the  mission  field  by 
these  living  and  personal  links,  has  been  growing  in  favor, 
and  having  increasing  proof  of  God's  blessing,  of  late 
years.  In  connection  with  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
of  Britain,  there  are  about  300  missionaries  maintained 
by  special  gifts  of  individual  donors,  without  prejudice  to 
the  general  zvork,  which  is  a  very  important  fact.  Other 
boards  in  this  country  are  just  now  advocating  a  similar 
policy,  encouraging  individuals  to  give  to  the  support  of 
special  missions  and  missionaries,  while  they  carefully  cau- 
tion such  donors  that  they  deem  it  unwise  for  such  gifts 
to  be  limited  to  special  objects  in  the  mission  field,  as  it  has 
been  found  that  interest  is  apt  to  decline,  and  support  to 
be  withdrawn,  when  such  special  object  is  no  longer 
deemed  advisable  or  practicable.  *  Of  course,  when  gifts 
to  missions  are  prompted  by  a  truly  Christ-like  spirit,  they 

*  A  pertinent  example  of  this  method  of  supporting  a  missionary,  and  of  en- 
listing the  sympathies  of  a  church  is  furnished  in  the  case  of  the  late  Dr.  A.  C. 
Good,  who  was  sustained  in  his  arduous  work  in  Africa  by  the  contributions 
of  Trinity  Presbyterian  Church  in  Montclair,  N.  J.  This  church  asked  the 
board  that  they  might  assume  his  entire  support  and  salary,  and  regard  him 
as  their  special  representative  abroad.  The  arrangement  resulted  most 
happily.  His  relation  to  the  board  was  unaltered  thereby,  and  a  particular 
benefit  accrued,  not  only  to  that  church,  but  to  the  Church  at  large  ;  for  never 
before  had  he  allowed  himself  to  write  such  full,  leisurely  letters.  The  pas- 
tor, Rev.  Orville  Reed,  testifies  to  the  blessed  influence  of  these  letters  on 
the  church,  in  the  real  interest  awakened  in  foreign  missions,  the  warm  at- 
tachment to  the  missionary,  and  the  increase  of  prayerful  giving.  It  was  as 
tho  the  church  had  a  second  '■'■pastor  in  Africa."— "A  Life  for  Africa,"  pp. 
148,  149. 


292  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

will  never  be  limited  by  too  narrow  a  range  of  personal 
sympathies  or  individual  preferences.  The  work  is  cos- 
mopolitan, and  demands  a  cosmopolitan  soul  behind  it — 
catholic,  impartial  love,  universal  sympathy  and  support. 
When  it  ceases  to  be  wise  to  pursue  any  particular  line  of 
work,  or  to  occupy  any  particular  sphere  of  service,  or 
when  any  form  of  efifort  obviously  lacks  the  divine  sanc- 
tion, consecrated  gifts  will  not  be  withheld  altogether,  but 
only  diverted  to  some  wiser,  better  channel;  the  work  at 
large  must  never  suffer  because  any  local  work  fails  to 
commend  itself  to  our  further  approval  and  cooperation: 
otherwise  we  are  moved  by  self-will  and  not  the  will  of 
God. 

We  commend  for  consideration  the  following  sugges- 
tions : 

1.  That  every  local  congregation  shall  at  once  organize 
with  reference  to  the  support  of  at  least  07te  foreign  mis- 
sionary, to  be  associated  with  its  own  church  life  and  work. 
Some  congregations  can  do  more  than  maintain  one; 
others  may  not  feel  equal  to  the  support  of  even  one,  and 
such  may  associate  with  themselves  one  or  more  smaller 
churches. 

2.  Let  each  family  ask  the  question :  Can  we  as  a  house- 
hold support  a  missionary  abroad?  Many  a  family  that 
has  never  yet  thought  of  such  a  thing  as  possible,  will  at 
once  see  that,  by  a  small  reduction  of  family  outlay  or  by 
consecrating  a  certain  percentage  of  family  income,  a  mis- 
sionary could  represent  them  abroad. 

3.  Let  every  individual  Christian  solemnly  ask  and  an- 
swer this  question :  Could  I  not  this  year  support  a  mis- 
sionary? There  is  a  man— known  to  the  writer — who  is 
alone  in  the  world  and  spends  at  least  $10,000  a  year  for 
his  own  keeping ;  another  believer  who  pays  $10,000  a  year 
rent  and  has  not  a  child  or  dependent ;  another  who  spent 


INDIVIDUAL  LINKS  293 

$25,000  in  one  year's  travel ;  another  whose  personal  ex- 
penses are  at  least  $15,000  exclusive  of  house  rent;  an- 
other who,  with  one  child,  spends  $10,000  annually.  There 
are  others  who  retrench  in  every  direction,  cheerfully  and 
habitually,  in  order  to  give,  like  that  man  who  supports 
an  entire  mission  with  its  six  workers,  paying  outfit,  trans- 
portation, salary,  etc.,  out  of  his  own  pocket ;  yet  that  man 
is  not  a  rich  man,  but  one  of  very  moderate  means,  but 
who  does  business  and  makes  money  for  Christ. 

Alas !  the  Church  of  God  as  a  body  is  still  asleep,  or,  if 
awake,  criminally  apathetic  and  lethargic.  And  the  Master 
of  us  all  will  have  some  day  an  awful  reckoning  with  us  for 
wasting  His  goods,  and  neglecting  His  scattered  sheep, 
and  disobeying  His  command.  There  is  bloodguiltiness  to 
be  required  of  this  generation.  Let  us  abandon  the  work 
of  missions  altogether  if  it  be  not  God's  work  and  ours  by 
His  appointment.  But  if  it  be  His  work,  then  in  the  name 
of  God  and  of  Christ,  and  of  the  Gospel,  and  of  Humanity 
let  us  do  it,  and  do  it  with  some  such  enthusiasm,  prayer- 
fulness,  generosity,  sacrifice,  giving  of  money,  and  giving 
of  self,  as  the  magnitude  of  the  trust  and  the  field,  and  the 
magnificence  of  the  work  and  the  reward,  and  the  ma- 
jesty of  the  Divine  King  and  Captain  demand ! 

The  one  thing  which  the  Master  is  now  pressing  upon 
the  attention  of  all  His  disciples  who  have  ears  to  hear  is 
the  absolute  necessity  of  remembering,  as  before  God,  their 
individual  duty  and  privilege.  He  solemnly  challenges 
every  disciple  to  face  three  great  questions,  as  one  who 
alone  is  to  give  account  of  himself  unto  God.  However 
we  may  hide  here  behind  the  mass,  or  lose  ourselves  in  the 
crowd,  at  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ  every  one  of  us,  in 
awful  aloneness,  must  confront  these  tremendous  ques- 
tions :  "  Hast  thou  wasted  my  goods  ?  "  "  Hast  thou  neg- 
lected a  dying  world  ?  "    "  Hast  thou  shut  thine  hand  and 


294  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

purse  against  thy  needy  and  perishing  brother  man  ?  "  And 
we  need  to  meet  these  questions,  now,  with  a  practical  an- 
swer which  will  stand  this  scrutiny,  if  we  are  not  to  be 
"  ashamed  before  Him  at  His  coming." 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

MEDICAL  MISSIONS :  SAMUEL  FISK  GREEN,  M.D.  * 

Example  incarnates  argument;  it  is  the  word  made 
flesh  and  dwelling  among  us.  The  theory  and  philosophy 
of  medical  missions  are  illustrated  in  the  lives  of  medical 
missionaries,  whose  careers  have  silenced  all  objections 
and  supplied  irrefutable  reasons  for  enlarged  service  along 
the  same  lines.  We  give  one  such  example  out  of  many, 
namely,  Samuel  Fisk  Green,  who  from  1847  to  ^^73*  ^ 
period  of  twenty-six  years,  was  identified  with  work  in 
Ceylon. 

In  his  eighteenth  year  he  found  Christ  and  became  a 
member  of  the  Mercer  Street  Presbyterian  church  in  New 
York.  He  inherited  a  leaning  toward  the  medical  profes- 
sion, and  sundry  influences  swayed  his  choice,  so  that  at 
the  age  of  nineteen,  he  was  studying  medicine,  and  en- 
tered the  college  of  physicians  and  surgeons. 

The  experience  of  the  dissecting-room  was  very  re- 
pulsive to  his  sensitive  nature,  but  he  endured  all  that  was 
necessary  to  his  fitness  for  his  life-work ;  and  the  familiar- 
ity with  the  human  body,  which  often  leads  to  materialism, 
only  called  forth  in  him  more  reverence  as  it  revealed  the 
two  grand  arguments  for  a  Divine  design:  First,  the 
mechanism  of  every  part,  and  second,  the  adaptation  of  all 
parts  to  the  whole.  Familiarity  with  sufifering  also,  in- 
stead of  hardening,  softened  him,  and  made  him  more  sym- 
pathetic and  tender. 

♦  See  Life  and  Letters  of  Samuel  Fisk  Green,  M.  D.  Compiled  by  Eben- 
ezer  Cutler,  D.D. 

295 


296  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

In  March,  1846,  he  asked  himself :  *'  Why  is  ft  not  better 
for  me  to  go  where  I  can  be  very  useful,  as  well  in  my  pro- 
fession as  otherwise,  at  once — go  to  a  land  of  darkness,  and 
heal  the  bodies  and  enlighten  the  minds  of  some  error- 
bound  people?  "  That  question  led  to  his  self-offering  for 
the  field,  and  he  was  soon  after  under  appointment  to 
Ceylon,  as  a  missionary  of  the  American  Board,  and 
landed  at  Ceylon  in  October,  reaching  Battecotta  shortly 
after,  at  the  completion  of  his  first  quarter  century. 

It  was  not  a  fortnight,  before  success  in  a  surgical 
operation  established  him  at  once  in  the  confidence  of  the 
Tamils.  With  insight,  born  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  healing  art,  he  discovered  an  abscess  in  the  abdomen, 
and  removed  it.  The  patient  was  cured,  and  the  fame  of 
the  new  doctor  spread  through  the  peninsula.  The  natives 
began  to  talk  about  the  miracle  of  this  cure ;  the  new  Eng- 
lish doctor  "  had  taken  out  the  bowels,  adjusted  them,  and 
refixed  them."  He  was  a  demigod  at  once,  and,  of  course, 
people  flocked  to  him  from  all  parts.  He  remembered  the 
deeper  sickness  that  needed  a  divine  physician,  and,  as  he 
healed  the  sick,  he  preached  the  Gospel,  seeking  to  apply  to 
every  patient  the  spiritual  remedies  of  the  Gospel.  Even 
while  yet  using  an  interpreter  he  explained  how  all  sick- 
ness is  the  ultimate  fruit  of  sin,  and  often  the  immediate 
penalty  of  violating  God's  laws.  He  distributed  well- 
selected  tracts,  and  so  began  his  two-fold  work  for  body 
and  soul. 

In  February,  1848,  he  was  removed  to  Manepy,  and 
there  again  "  the  people  thronged  him."  At  the  temple  of 
Puliar,  a  great  festival  begins  about  March  25th,  and  holds 
for  three  weeks. 

Dr.  Green  writes: 

On  the  second  Sabbath  of  the  festival,  I  saw,  in  the  midst  of 
the  throng,  a  man  rolling  along  on  the  ground,  holding  in  his 
hands  an  offering— a  little  brass  vessel  of  milk — under  an  arch 


MEDICAL  MISSIONS  297 

trimmed  with  peacock  feathers  and  painting;  behind  him  an  old 
religious  beggar  ringing  a  bell ;  before  him  another  bearing  some 
incense  burning.  The  poor  fellow  rolled  over  and  over,  his 
black  body  whitened  by  the  dust,  for  about  half  a  mile  and  then 
around  the  temple.  He  had  been  sick  and  made  a  vow  to  do 
this.  He  got  medicine,  I  understand,  of  me ;  but  if  mine  did  him 
any  good  he  ascribes  the  virtue  to  Puliar;  so  I  have  been  an  in- 
strument, perhaps,  of  leading  this  man  to  serve  the  devil. 

This  is  an  example  both  of  the  opportunities  and  diffi- 
culties which  heathenism  presented.  To  uproot  growths 
of  superstition,  tradition,  caste,  and  custom,  which  had 
rooted  themselves  for  centuries,  was  a  hard  task,  but  Christ 
long  since  said :  "  Every  plant  which  my  heavenly  Father 
hath  not  planted  shall  be  rooted  up."  Nothing  was  more 
disheartening  than  the  spiritual  apathy  about  him.  The 
people  would  assent  to  almost  anything,  and  yet  remain 
unmoved.  Prayer  must  call  down  fire  from  heaven  if 
such  moral  stagnation  and  self -complaisance  were  to  be 
changed. 

By  the  autumn  of  his  first  year  Dr.  Green  had  two 
young  Tamils  as  students  of  medicine,  for  he  felt  the  need 
of  a  native  force  of  helpers.  After  eight  months  he  began 
to  speak  the  Tamil,  and  a  few  months  later  could  under- 
stand a  sermon  in  the  vernacular.  He  saw  that  his  main 
business  was  to  spread  knowledge  of  salvation,  and  gave 
out  tickets  on  which  were  printed  not  only  health-rules, 
but  Gospel  truths — a  synopsis  of  truths  touching  soul- 
health. 

Dr.  Green  was  no  idler.  In  thirteen  months  previous  to 
January  i,  1848,  2,544  native  cases  had  been  treated,  one- 
third  or  more  of  them  surgical,  including  tumors,  cancers, 
cataracts,  strangulated  hernia,  amputations,  fractures,  etc., 
and  not  a  few  of  these  were  major  operations  in  point  of 
critical  and  dangerous  character,  as  when  the  left  upper 
jaw  and  cheek  bones  were  removed  for  a  cancerous  fungus 
in  the  antrum  filling  the  whole  mouth  and  left  nostril. 


( 


iiitVERSlTt 


298  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Some  of  the  worst  phases  of  heathenism  were  inwoven 
with  the  notions  concerning  the  nature,  causes,  and  treat- 
ment of  bodily  ills.  Superstitions  about  the  "  evil  eye  " 
and  evil  tongue  are  numerous  and  deep-rooted.  Fires  were 
lit  at  junction  of  two  roads  to  counteract  the  evil  tongue. 
Praise  might  cause  the  party  praised  to  be  ill,  and  mango 
leaves,  salt,  red  peppers,  and  the  dust  from  the  tracks 
of  him  who  did  the  praising,  must  be  used  to  undo  the 
harm;  the  leaves  waved  thrice  about  the  head,  the  salt^ 
etc.,  rubbed  on  the  body,  then  all  these  burned  at  evening. 
Cows  were  daubed  with  soot  to  keep  off  the  evil  eye,  etc. 
Akusteer,  a  fabulous  dwarf,  a  cubit  high,  is  the  famous 
medical  authority,  whose  prescriptions  are  servilely  fol- 
lowed. A  famous  practitioner  in  Manepy  had  been  in 
practice  forty-two  years,  yet  had  never  known  the  differ- 
ence between  arterial  and  venous  blood,  did  not  know  that 
there  was  black  blood  as  well  as  red,  nor  had  he  ever  seen 
a  vital  organ.  He  thought  the  pulse  to  be  the  motion  of 
air  in  the  body. 

A  sort  of  scapegoat  idea  was  sometimes  found  prevail- 
ing, as  when  a  mud  image  represents  a  sick  child,  and  a 
ceremony  about  that  image  is  supposed  to  cause  the  sick- 
ness to  leave  the  child  and  enter  the  image.  Horses'  teeth 
and  rhinoceros'  horns  are  used  as  remedies.  From  a  gold- 
smith's arm,  who  was  down  with  fever,  was  taken  a 
charm,  a  gold  tube,  with  which  was  a  sheet  of  lead  ruled 
off  into  forty-nine  squares,  and  in  this  diagram  were  writ- 
ten several  muntras,  and  under  them  a  prayer  to  Siva. 
The  swami  (idol)  is  supposed  to  reside  in  this  mystic  seat, 
which  is  tied  above  the  right  elbow  to  chase  away  intru- 
ding demons. 

These  and  kindred  superstitions  Dr.  Green  felt  it  to  be 
his  mission,  by  a  truly  scientific  treatment,  to  uproot,  de- 
stroying the  very  basis  of  the  native  system  of  dealing  with 


MEDICAL  MISSIONS  199 

disease,  and  so  delivering  the  people  from  the  deceptions, 
delusions  and  cruelties  of  native  doctors. 

Difficulties  there  were  in  treating  disease.  Even  cholera 
patients  would  not  always  accept  a  physician's  aid. 

Some  fear  to  take  medicine  lest  it  offend  their  gods;  refusing: 
medicine  and  taking  only  the  juice  of  the  leaf  of  the  sacred  tree 
over  Genesa's  temple,  mixed  with  water.  They  would  rather  die 
without  medicine  and  take  their  chances  with  their  gods  in  the 
unseen  world  than  recover  by  the  use  of  medicine,  and  encounter 
the  malice  of  their  gods  in  this  world. 

He  was  sometimes  asked  to  feel  one's  pulse  through  silk, 
so  as  not  to  impart  pollution  by  his  touch.  A  Brahman 
wished  him  to  examine  his  wife's  case  without  putting  his 
fingers  or  instruments  into  her  mouth.  He  met  such  de- 
mands sometimes  by  refusal  to  comply,  and  sometimes  by  a 
droll  facetiousness  which  disarmed  prejudice. 

A  wealthy  Moorman  called  to  consult  about  his  wife,  who  has 
apparently  a  mammary  abscess.  I  suggested  that  he  take  a  Lali- 
mer  (a  Tamil),  and  let  him  examine,  and,  if  necessary,  use  the 
lancet.  He  could  not  consent;  no  one  could  be  allowed  to  see 
his  wife.  I  proposed  that  she  be  seated  behind  a  curtain,  through 
which  the  doctor  could  do  the  needful,  but  he  would  not  agree. 

In  Syria  an  American  doctor  insisted  on  at  least  examin- 
ing tongue  and  pulse,  in  order  to  prescribe  for  a  pasha's 
wife ;  and  so  a  slit  in  the  curtain  was  made,  and  a  tongue 
and  a  hand  successively  thrust  through,  which,  being 
normal,  he  found  to  be  the  hand  and  tongue  of  a  maid. 
He  was  expected  to  examine  his  patient  by  proxy ! 

Early  in  the  fourth  year  Df .  Green  was  recalled  to  Batti- 
cotta.  He  was  having  an  average  of  2,000  patients  a 
year,  and  was  giving  religious  instruction  to  nearly  thrice 
that  number  annually.  All  his  work  as  a  medical  man  was 
anointed  with  the  fragrance  of  prayer,  and  he  sought  to 
impress  upon  his  patients  that  this  was  all  religious  work. 
He  said  of  the  removal  of  a  cataract : 


300  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

This  is,  perhaps,  the  most  delicate  operation  in  surgery.  Com- 
pletely successful.  I  scarce  expected  aught  but  failure;  but  the 
Great  Physician  guided  my  hand. 

When  subsequently  he  undertook  an  operation  which  he 
thought  too  trifling  to  pray  over,  he  failed  in  it ;  and  ac- 
cepted the  failure  as  a  lesson  to  show  that,  without  God  he 
could  do  nothing. 

To  get  any  fair  command  of  the  Tamil  tongue  was  to  Dr. 
Green  a  preparation  for  providing  a  medical  literature  for 
the  people  in  their  vernacular — another  hard  task,  for  in 
science  as  in  religion,  the  very  mold  of  a  heathen  language 
is  often  so  cramped  and  distorted  as  to  make  it  well  nigh 
impossible  to  express  normal  conceptions. 

He  started  a  vocabulary,  defining  English  and  Latin 
terms  in  Tamil,  as  the  basis,  and  planned  some  pamphlets 
on  the  more  important  branches  of  the  healing  art,  with 
the  Gospel  on  the  reverse  of  every  leaf — *'  a  good  backing  " 
— for  gratuitous  circulation.  These  primers  he  carefully 
prepared,  beginning  with  the  most  needful.  He  inspired 
and  directed  his  students,  so  that  they  should  both  do  good 
work  and  aid  his  own. 

In  1 85 1,  a  complete  glossary  for  anatomy  was  made,  and 
the  Tamil  medical  dictionary  was  begun.  The  first  work 
selected  for  translation  was  Dr.  Calvin  Cutter's  work  on 
"Anatomy,  Physiology,  and  Hygiene,"  with  cuts.  And 
so  the  work  was  fairly  on  the  way,  which  was  to  make 
European  medical  practice  indigenous  and  ultimately  dis- 
place the  native  system.  In  June,  1852,  this  first  work  on 
anatomy,  etc.,  was  ready  for  the  press.  It  took  three 
months  of  close  attention  to  get  the  book  out  with  its  illus- 
trations, and  in  a  week  a  quarter  of  the  edition  was  disposed 
of  and  being  eagerly  read  by  the  native  doctors. 

From  a  census  of  readers  among  his  patients,  taken  in 
1852,  he  estimated  that,  of  the  432,000  inhabitants  of  the 
province,  132,000  were  readers,  of  whom  about  2,600  were 


MEDICAL  MISSIONS  301 

women.  In  18 16  but  one  Tamil  woman  in  the  province 
could  read,  and  this  large  increase  of  women  readers  was  a 
prophecy  of  a  time  coming  when  female  education  would 
be  nearly  as  universal  in  Ceylon  as  in  England. 

At  this  time,  as  he  had  help  in  teaching,  Dr.  Green 
was  able  to  meet  the  demand  for  practice  at  the  homes  of 
patients  more  than  before.  He  studied  and  loved  the 
people,  and  avoided  no  labor  or  sacrifice  that  would  help 
him  meet  their  needs. 

In  1854-5  cholera  visited  Ceylon,  and  the  people  fled  be- 
fore it.  A  day  of  fasting  was  kept  by  all  the  missions  in 
December.  In  the  Jaffna  district  alone  were  reported  for 
the  year  8,000  cases,  besides  2,500  of  smallpox.  But  Dr. 
Green,  tho  never  strong  himself,  was  ever  ready  to  help 
others,  and  was  himself  violently  prostrated,  causing  in- 
tense anxiety.  He  took  "  medicine  enough  for  a  horse," 
and  his  recovery  was  like  rising  from  the  dead. 

During  six  months,  in  1856,  1,032  patients  were 
registered,  and  his  literary  labors  were  vigorously 
prosecuted.  With  aid  from  his  munshi  and  Rev.  Mr. 
Webb,  of  the  Madura  mission,  he  completed  vocabularies 
for  chemistry  and  natural  philosophy,  revised  his  work  on 
obstetrics,  etc. 

In  1857,  ten  years  of  service  being  completed,  he  took 
a  respite  from  labor,  leaving  Ceylon  for  America.  In  a 
decade  of  years,  he  had  so  mastered  the  hard  tongue  as  to 
preach  in  it  directly  from  his  English  manuscript ;  he  had 
published  tracts,  laid  the  basis  of  a  Tamil  medical  litera- 
ture, published  two  important  works — translations  from 
Cutter  and  Maunsell ;  he  had  been  connected  with  the  treat- 
ment of  over  20,000  patients,  to  whom,  and  as  many  more 
of  their  attendants,  he  had  made  known  the  Gospel  reme- 
dies for  soul-sickness.  Twenty  young  men  he  had  qualified 
for  medicine  and  surgery,  and  some  of  them  were  teach- 
ing others. 


302  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

En  route  to  America,  he  visited  Edinburgh  by  invita- 
tion of  the  Medical  Missionary  Society,  and  drew  up  an 
outline  of  his  views  on  medical  missions,  which  is  one  of 
the  best  pleas  for  the  combination  of  the  healing  art  with 
Gospel  work.  In  May,  1862,  he  again  set  sail,  having  mar- 
ried Miss  Margaret  Phelps  Williams,  in  every  way  worthy 
of  her  husband;  and  in  October  they  were  welcomed  in 
Manepy,  where  he  gladly  resumed  his  manifold  activities 
as  medical  teacher  and  practitioner,  evangeUst,  expositor, 
translator,  editor,  counselor  and  friend. 

Soon  after  he  was  asked  to  take  the  superintendence  of 
the  hospital  connected  with  the  "  Friend  in  Need  Society," 
and  consented  to  make  a  trial  of  it  for  three  months.  He 
at  once  reorganized  the  work  for  greater  efficiency  and 
economy.  Some  idea  of  the  surgery  made  necessary  may 
be  seen  from  one  record  of  August  7th,  1863. 

Two  Chank  gatherers  severely  bitten  by  a  huge  shark.  One 
has  four  bad,  deep,  large  bites  in  his  right  thigh,  and  the  other 
his  right  thigh  bitten  off,  leaving  as  stump  the  upper  third.  We 
sawed  off  a  bit  of  the  bone  which  projected  about  three  inches. 
Performed  Simm's  operation  on  an  unhappy  woman,  and  tapped 
a  Moorman,  making  out  a  pretty  good  clinic  for  the  thirteen 
students  and  three  doctors  present. 

Here,  beside  his  other  work,  8,000  patients  were  annually 
treated,  the  worst  cases  being  attended  to  by  himself,  and 
all  under  his  oversight.  After  three  months'  trial,  he  con- 
cluded God  had  opened  before  him  this  new  and  effectual 
door  of  service,  and  he  continued  as  its  superintendent. 

Meanwhile  light  so  increased  in  Jaffna  that  the  hea'd 
place  of  Siva  was  seen  to  be  a  den  of  infamy,  and  even  the 
heathen  began  to  demand  reforms.  All  the  Brahmans 
about  that  shrine  were  reported  licentious  and  the  temple 
was  but  partner  to  the  brothel. 

He  wrote  of  the  Hindu  religion : 


MEDICAL  MISSIONS  303 

It  is  dovetailed  into  the  whole  social  system.  Astrologers  must 
fix  the  day  to  build  a  house,  and  the  propitious  time  for  the 
thatching  must  come  before  the  first  leaf  is  tied  on.  In  Batti- 
cotta  women  will,  but  men  will  not  kill  a  centipede;  for  once 
a  woman  tried  to  poison  her  husband  by  soup,  but  a  centipede 
falling  into  it  stopped  his  eating  it,  and  so  defeated  her  malice  and 
saved  his  life. 

What  can  be  viler  than  the  revered,  sacred  books!  He  who 
would  faithfully  translate  Koo-rul  into  English  would  become  in- 
famously famous;  and  sensual  corruption  pervades  the  very 
sanctum  of  idolatry.  When  heathenism  sinks  the  Brahmans  will 
sink  with  it,  from  deities  to  men. 

Dr.  Green  compares  Indian  false  religion  to  a  huge  ban- 
yan with  ten  thousand  branches,  far-reaching  and  rooting 
themselves  anew  in  every  direction,  and  the  missionary 
force  that  is  sent  forth  to  fell  it,  he  likens  to  a  few  puny 
white  boys  with  playing  hatchets  1 

During  the  deputation's  visit,  and  while  they  were  about 
to  ordain  and  install  the  first  native  pastor,  the  mission 
adopted,  as  part  of  the  church  covenant,  a  solemn  renuncia- 
tion of  caste.  Within  a  month  there  were  nearly  one  hun- 
dred signatures;  and  Dr.  Green's  personal  influence  over 
his  medical  class  led  the  members  not  only  to  Christ,  but 
into  His  church,  at  cost  of  everything. 

During  the  ravages  of  cholera  in  1866-7,  ^^  found  his 
hands  full.  Health  handbills  were  issued,  and  tracts  on 
cholera,  and  the  commissioners  of  government  publicly 
commended  his  tireless  endeavors  to  abate  the  scourge. 
But  he  never  lost  sight  of  his  greater  work  to  save  souls 
from  the  second  death. 

In  the  summer  of  1868,  he  summed  up  the  results  of  the 
six  years,  since  his  return.  He  had  led  a  class  through 
two-thirds  of  their  remaining  course  of  medical  study  in 
English,  graduating  eight  physicians ;  and  carried  as  many 
more  through  their  whole  course  in  the  vernacular;  he 
had  trained  three  dispensers  wholly  in  Tamil,  and  three 


304  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

more  partially.  He  had  made  out  six  vocabularies^  and 
completed  four  others;  carried  one  large  volume  through 
the  press,  and  prepared  another;  secured  three  volumes 
in  manuscript,  soon  to  be  printed,  and  five  more  in  crude 
stage,  besides  all  his  guidance  of  work  which  others  had 
done. 

Before  the  close  of  this  year  he  was  compelled  to  resign 
his  hospital  superintendency,  in  face  of  all  pressure  to  re- 
main. The  term  of  service  begun  for  three  months  as  an 
experiment  had  continued  to  twenty-two  times  that  period. 

In  the  spring  of  1869,  Dr.  Green  was  busy  on  the  revi- 
sion of  the  Physician's  Vade  Mecum,  the  hardest  revision 
work  he  ever  undertook,  the  "  translation  being  bad,  and 
the  subject  obstinate,"  and  not  until  fifteen  months  later 
was  the  work  completed.  His  health  was  very  frail,  and 
disease  threatened,  but  the  impossibility  of  creating  a  pure 
literature  for  the  Tamils  without  Western  aid  kept  him  at 
work,  and  he  was  already  a  leader  in  the  creation  of  science 
in  the  Tamil  tongue.  His  works,  printed  in  that  language, 
covered  nearly  4,500  octavo  pages. 

The  place  of  medical  literature  in  missions  he  both  testi- 
fied and  tested.  For  instance,  he  says  of  the  use  of  certain 
cuts  in  Dr.  Smith's  anatomical  atlas,  in  connection  with  his 
own  work  on  anatomy : 

I  regard  a  volume  of  this  kind  as  most  distinctively  aggressive 
on  Hinduism.  There  is  a  radical  antagonism  between  the  truths 
it  will  spread  and  the  prevalent  ideas  here  concerning  the  body. 
It  should  be  shown  that  the  body  is  the  Lord's  wondrous  mechan- 
ism, and  not  the  lodgment  of  divers  gods,  nor  its  various  parts 
controlled  by  the  constellations.  With  plenty  and  good  illus- 
trations the  book  will  be  doubly  useful.  It  will  be  as  different 
from  a  non-illustrated  volume  as  daylight  from  dawn.  These 
will  advance  one  item  at  least  of  missionary  work  far  toward 
that  desired  state  in  which  "  the  light  of  the  sun  shall  be  as  the 
light  of  seven  days." 

A  prominent  authority  on  medical  missions,  in  Edin- 


MEDICAL  MISSIONS  305 

burgh,  wrote  of  Dr.  Green  that  no  then  living  mission- 
ary "  had  had  such  lengthened  experience,  or  done  so 
much  to  extend  the  benefits  of  European  skill,  by  transla- 
ting and  publishing  a  comprehensive  medical  and  surgical 
literature  in  the  South  India  vernacular,  and  by  training 
native  medical  evangelists." 

His  medical  labors  are  not  easily  tabulated.  Thousands 
first  heard  the  Gospel  at  his  lips,  and  who  shall  tell  the 
outcome?  He  found  at  the  seaside,  and  by  seeming  acci- 
dent, a  blind  woman  who  recognized  his  voice,  and  told 
him  that,  fifteen  years  before,  she  had  fever  and  was  healed 
at  his  dispensary,  and  that  he  told  her  about  Jesus  Christ ; 
and  she  added,  "  I  have  prayed  to  Him  ever  since,  and  have 
not  worshipped  idols." 

As  another  ten  years,  since  his  resumption  of  work  in 
Ceylon  approached  completion,  his  return  to  America 
seemed  inevitable.  During  his  two  terms  sixty-four  had 
been  trained  in  medicine  (whereas  only  seven  or  eight  had 
been,  before  his  advent),  and  over  half  of  these  sixty- four 
in  the  vernacular ;  and  a  class  of  twenty  were  well  started 
before  he  left.  He  had  produced  eight  larger  works,  be- 
sides the  smaller,  and  four  were  yet  in  manuscript.  His 
graduates  were  filling  important  positions,  ''  studding  the 
province,"  and  the  hospital  he  had  conducted  for  five  years 
and  a  half  was  now  manned  by  them,  and  had  more  pa- 
tients than  all  the  hospitals  in  the  other  provinces. 

When  in  September,  1873,  Dr.  Green  and  his  wife  and 
children  reached  the  family  home  at  Worcester,  he  did  not 
cease  to  be  a  missionary.  Translations  and  new  composi- 
tions, correspondence,  conversation,  public  addresses,  and 
the  constant  persuasive  fragrance  of  his  personality,  kept 
up  the  "  apostolic  succession." 

To  Dr.  Green  had  been  born,  between  1864  and  1871, 
four  children — three  daughters  and  a  son,  and  he  did  not 
forget  these  "  olive  plants  "  at  home,  but  took  untiring  in- 


3o6 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 


terest  in  their  training,  using  as  his  helpers  books  and  the 
world  of  nature,  fauna  and  flora,  with  microscope  and 
lancet,  and  above  all  the  Bible,  with  rare  fidelity  to  God's 
ideal,  putting  first  what  belongs  first,  not  the  mental  or 
physical,  but  the  moral  and  spiritual. 

Home  rest  slowly  brought  recuperation,  and  he  hoped 
to  return  to  work,  and  said,  "  Altho  powerfully  weak,  we 
multiply  half  strength  by  tenfold  demand,  and  get  the  re- 
sult of  fivefold  usefulness." 

In  1880,  he  took  whooping-cough  from  his  own  children, 
which  probably  gave  strength  to  a  constitutional  malady 
long  preying  on  him;  and,  at  noonday  of  May  28,  1884, 
with  hope  at  its  meridian,  he  passed  into  the  life  that  knows 
no  end.  His  last  words  were  a  benediction,  and  his  last 
legacy  a  self-oblivious  decree : 

I  wish  that  my  funeral  may  be  conducted  as  inexpensively  as 
may  consist  with  decency  and  order.  Let  the  exercises  be  simply 
to  edification;  and  of  the  dead  speak  neither  blame  nor  praise. 
Should  I  ever  have  a  gravestone,  let  it  be  plain  and  simple,  and 
bear  the  following  inscription,  viz. : 


SAMUEL  FISK  GREEN, 

1822-1884,* 

MEDICAL  EVANGELIST  TO   THE   TAMILS. 

JESUS   MY  ALL. 


♦  The  last  date,  left  blank,  is  supplied  to  complete  the  inscription. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

MINISTRIES   TO   THE   SICK   AND    WOUNDED   IN   WAR   TIMES 

The  name  of  Florence  Nightingale  is  inseparably  con- 
nected with  a  new  form  of  woman's  ministry  to  man  gen- 
erally, in  a  wide-spread  movement  for  the  reform  of  sani- 
tury  conditions  in  the  camp  and  campaign,  of  soldiers  and 
sailors. 

She  was  an  Italian  by  birth,  being  born  in  Florence, 
Italy,  in  1823,  of  English  parents.  Highly  educated, 
brilliantly  accomplished,  of  refined  sensibility,  every  inch 
a  woman,  and  with  none  of  the  masculine  traits,  often 
associated  with  women  of  public  action,  God  prepared  in 
her  a  mighty  force  for  the  relief,  and  in  fact  reconstruc- 
tion of  unhealthy  and  abnormal  conditions  in  the  British 
Army,  and,  through  her  success  there,  inspiring  similar 
movements  elsewhere. 

She  early  showed  intense  interest  in  the  alleviation  of 
suffering  which,  in  1844,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-one, 
led  her  to  give  close  attention  to  the  condition  of  hospi- 
tals, so  that,  like  John  Howard,  and  Elizabeth  Fry,  who 
was  called  the  Female  Howard,  she  undertook  a  personal 
visitation  and  inspection  of  the  civil  and  military  hospitals 
all  over  Europe.  She  studied,  with  the  sisters  of  charity  of 
Paris,  the  system  of  nursing  and  of  management  in  the 
hospitals,  and  in  1851,  at  twenty-eight,  herself  went  into 
training  as  a  nurse  in  the  institution  of  Protestant  Deacon- 
esses, at  Kaiserwerth  on  the  Rhine.  Thus  qualified,  on  her 
return  to  her  own  land,  England,  she  put  into  thorough 
working  order,  the  Sanitorium  for  Governesses  in  connec- 

307 


3o8  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

tion  with  the  London  Institution.  All  unconscious  of  the 
wide  work  for  the  world  and  the  ages  for  which  God  was 
thus  fitting  her,  she  had  thus  served  a  ten  years'  term  of 
apprenticeship  for  the  sublime  and  self-sacrificing  career 
that  lay  just  before  her. 

In  the  spring  of  1854,  when  she  was  in  her  thirty- 
second  year,  war  was  declared  by  Britain  against  Russia, 
and  a  force  of  25,000  British  soldiery  embarked  for  the 
Golden  Horn.  The  battle  of  Alma  was  fought  on  Sep- 
tember 20,  and  the  wounded  with  the  sick  were  sent  down 
to  the  hastily  improvised  hospitals,  made  ready  to  re- 
ceive them  on  the  banks  of  the  Bosphorus.  Crowds  of 
men  in  every  stage  of  sickness  and  suffering  from  wounds, 
unskillfully  treated  and  still  worse,  neglected,  were  thus 
huddled  together.  How  unsanitary  the  conditions  were, 
may  be  inferred  from  the  average  rate  of  mortality.  The 
hospitals  were  more  fatal  than  the  battle  field,  the  ordinary 
casualties  of  the  fiercest  battle  being  insignificant  in  com- 
parison to  the  death  rate  in  the  wards. 

Dr.  Hamlin  well  remarks  that  the  Crimean  war  brought 
out  both  the  noblest  and  basest  attributes  of  human  char- 
acter. There  were  Hedley  Vicars  among  the  officers  and 
Dr.  Blackwood  among  the  chaplains,  and  his  noble  wife, 
Lady  Alicia,  and  Florence  Nightingale  in  the  hospitals, 
who  will  forever  stand  out  as  exhibiting  the  glory  of  our 
common  humanity  and  Christianity.  But  the  same  events 
gave  opportunity  to  exhibit  the  meanest  selfishness  and 
sordidness. 

In  the  great  hospital  at  Scutari,  the  severest  sufferings 
were  in  the  night.  At  ten  o'clock  p.  m.  the  lights 
were  put  out  and  no  one  came  near  the  sufferers  until 
the  morning.  The  night  was  made  hideous  and  horrible 
by  agonizing  cries  for  water,  groans  of  the  dying,  and 
ravings  of  the  delirious.  Dr.  Hamlin  offered  Dr.  Men- 
zies,  the  chief  physician,  his  own  help  and  that  of  a  dozen 


MINISTRIES  TO  THE  SICK  309 

or  fifteen  of  his  most  trustworthy  students,  as  night- 
watchers,  but  the  proposal  was  not  only  rejected,  but  re- 
jected with  asperity.  He  went  further  and  applied  to 
Gen.  Posgaiter,  commissary  general,  offering  to  organize 
a  relief  force  of  volunteer  night  watchers,  from  American 
and  English  residents,  who  would  obey  all  the  rules,  sub- 
ject to  Dr.  Menzies'  orders,  undertaking  simply  to  relieve 
the  awful  and  needless  suffering  of  the  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers.  When  the  commissary  general  forwarded  Dr. 
Hamlin's  note  with  his  own,  the  only  result  was  another 
repulse,  the  Doctor  replying  curtly,  "  We  cannot  admit  any 
outside  interference ;  "  and  so  thousands  of  brave  suffer- 
ers were  cruelly  left  to  agony  of  thirst,  torture  of  pain  and 
even  to  death,  in  the  darkness  of  a  doubly  unrelieved  night. 

Of  course,  in  such  a  hospital  the  conditions  were  all 
horribly  unsanitary.  The  smell  was  like  that  of  a  dis- 
secting chamber,  where  corpses  lie  in  all  stages  of  putre- 
faction, nauseous  in  the  extreme,  and  showing  not  only 
neglect,  but  dovv^nright  incapacity  on  the  part  of  medical 
attendants.  Dr.  Menzies  was  finally  removed  and  re- 
moved in  disgrace. 

Dr.  Hamlin  tells  also  of  the  condition  of  things  in  the 
Kulelie  hospital.  The  battle  of  Inkerman  was  fought  m 
November,  1855,  and  a  week  or  so  later,  the  Himalaya,  the 
huge  English  iron  merchant  steamer,  was  lying  at  Kulelie 
and  two  hundred  and  fifty  wounded  were  in  the  cavalry 
barracks  and  some  Russian  wounded  on  the  float  wharf. 
Both  the  English  and  Russian  soldiers'  blankets  were  full 
of  lice,  and  Dr.  Hamlin  says,  "  I  picked  off  eleven  of  the 
most  atrocious  beasts  I  ever  saw,  from  my  woollen 
gloves."  The  English  wounded  had  had  no  washing  done 
for  five  months,  for  lack  of  wood  and  water;  and  their 
under  flannels  were  such  nests  of  vermin  that  they  wore 
none,  preferring  to  suffer  from  the  cold.  There  was  plenty 
of  clothing  but  it  could  not  be  worn.     Dr.  Hamlin  ap- 


310  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

pealed  to  the  chief  physician  about  the  washing,  but  met 
only  another  surly  reply,  "  it  could  not  be  done ;"  and,  when 
a  way  to  do  it  was  suggested,  he  damned  Dr.  Hamlin  as 
an  intruder,  his  dirty  meerschaum  hanging  in  the  corner 
of  his  dirtier  mouth.  Dr.  Hamlin  then  found  the  "  sar- 
geant  "  of  the  clothing,  who  showed  him  a  great  hall  where 
were  piled  up  garments  for  a  thousand  men.  The  place 
was  a  plague  breeder,  unventilated,  with  beds  and  bedding 
and  clothing,  taken  from  the  wounded  and  the  dead,  filthy 
and  full  of  vermin,  and  such  looking  animals,  overgrown, 
flat,  hellish  looking,  their  bite  like  that  of  a  scorpion,  irri- 
tating and  maddening,  producing  fever  heat  and  burning 
itch.  Dr.  HamHn  says  that  these  vermin  killed  more  men 
than  the  bullets. 

In  despair  of  cleansing  such  clothing,  a  furnace  was 
built  to  burn  it. 

Florence  Nightingale,  with  her  nurses,  appeared  on  the 
scene  of  the  Crimean  conflict  and  all  was  changed  in  these 
hospitals.  She  had  many  coadjutors  and  evinced  large  ca- 
pacity to  deal  with  the  conditions  she  found.  One  improve- 
ment followed  another  in  rapid  and  glorious  succession, 
until  the  hospitals  became  models  of  sympathetic  care  and 
sanitary  provisions.  The  hideous  nights  of  suffering  were 
relieved  and  shortened  by  the  tender  sympathetic  hand  and 
heart  of  woman — all  presided  over  by  one  woman,  who 
combined  in  herself  marvelous  common  sense,  sound  judg- 
ment, and  intelligent  Christian  capacity. 

The  crisis  in  the  Crimea  which  led  Florence  Nightingale 
to  offer  herself  as  a  missionary  to  the  sick  and  suffering  at 
Scutari,  was  one  of  what  Dr.  Croly  called  the  '*  Birth 
hours  of  history."  The  reorganization  of  that  nursing  de- 
partment at  Scutari  meant  a  reform  in  all  the  treatment  of 
sick  and  wounded  soldiers  and  sailors  in  war  times,  and  a 
permanent  and  world-wide  advance  in  this  department, 
even  among  semi-civilized  peoples. 


MINISTRIES  TO  THE  SICK  311 

Lord  Herbert,  then  at  the  War  Office,  gladly  accepted 
her  offer,  and  within  a  week  after,  Miss  Nightingale  was 
on  the  way  with  her  nursing  corps.  She  reached  Con- 
stantinople in  November,  1854,  just  before  the  battle  of 
Inkerman,  and  the  beginning  of  the  terrific  winter  cam- 
paign, in  time  to  receive  from  that  second  battle  the 
wounded,  though  the  wards  already  had  in  them  2,300 
patients. 

History,  poetry,  and  art  have  vied  with  each  other  fitly 
to  represent  the  heroic  devotion  of  that  woman  of  thirty- 
one,  to  the  sufferers  from  that  cruel  war.  She  was  known 
to  stand  on  her  feet  twenty  hours  at  a  time,  without  once 
sitting  down,  that  she  might  personally  see  sufferers  pro- 
vided with  such  accommodation  and  care  as  their  condi- 
tion called  for.  The  following  spring,  while  in  the  Crimea 
organizing  the  nursing  departments  of  the  camp  hospitals, 
she  herself  paid  the  penalty  of  her  untiring  toil  and  un- 
sparing self-sacrifice,  in  a  prostrating  fever.  Yet  she  re- 
fused to  desert  her  post  of  duty,  recovered,  and  remained 
at  Scutari  until  the  British  evacuated  Turkey  in  July,  1856. 

How  many  soldiers  owed  to  her  life  and  health  we  know 
not,  for  of  some  facts  no  history  has  ever  been  adequately 
written.  But  the  mental  and  physical  strain  told  upon  her 
naturally  frail  constitution.  She,  like  her  Master,  saved 
others,  but  herself  she  could  not  save.  She  yet  lives,  but 
an  invalid,  withdrawn  from  public  life  into  the  quiet  of 
her  rural  home — modestly  shrinking,  especially  from  the 
visits  of  the  curious  who  would  like  to  see  the  heroine  of 
the  Crimean  hospitals;  but  still  devising  means  for  the 
improvement  of  the  health  of  the  soldier. 

In  1857,  when  a  commission  was  created  to  inquire  into 
"  the  regulations  affecting  the  sanitary  condition  of  the 
British  Army,"  she  supplied  a  paper  of  written  evidence  in 
which,  with  peculiar  force,  she  emphasized  the  many 
lessons  learned  in  the  Crimean  war  which  were  char- 


312  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

acterized  as  a  "  sanitary  experiment  on  a  colossal  scale." 
During  her  experience  there,  the  results  which  accumu- 
lated under  her  own  eyes,  proved  that,  with  proper  pro- 
vision for  food,  clothing,  cleanliness,  nursing,  and  various 
sanitary  conditions,  the  rate  of  mortality  among  soldiers 
may  be  reduced  to  one  half  of  the  average  death  rate  in 
time  of  peace  and  at  home! 

Such  discoveries  naturally  fixed  her  mind  on  the  gen- 
eral question  of  sanitary  reform  in  the  army,  and  first  of 
all  the  army  hospitals.  In  1858,  she  contributed  other 
papers,  on  Hospital  construction  and  arrangement,  to  the 
National  Association  for  the  promotion  of  social  science. 
Her  Notes  on  Hospitals,  clear  in  arrangement  and  minute 
in  detail,  are  alike  valuable  to  the  architect,  engineer  and 
medical  man.  Her  Notes  on  Nursing  is  a  text  book  in 
many  a  household. 

The  results  of  her  work  in  the  Crimean  war,  prompted 
a  fund  to  enable  her  to  form  an  institution  for  training 
nurses — a  fund  which  yields  an  annual  interest  of  1,400 
pounds  sterling.  No  separate  Institution  has  been  formed, 
but  the  revenue  is  applied  to  training  a  superior  order  of 
nurses  in  connection  with  existing  hospitals. 

How  highly  Miss  Nightingale's  opinions  are  held  in  es- 
teem even  by  the  British  government  is  evinced  for  ex- 
ample by  one  fact.  When  in  1863,  the  Report  of  the  Com- 
mission on  the  Sanitary  Condition  of  the  Army  in  India 
was  made  in  two  folios  of  a  thousand  pages  each,  the 
manuscripts  were  forwarded  to  her  for  her  examination, 
and  her  observations  are  inserted  with  the  published  re- 
port. In  these  observations  and  comments,  there  is  such  a 
masterly  array  of  facts,  such  clearness  of  statement  and 
such  incisive  force  as  render  it  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable papers  ever  reduced  to  written  form,  and  it 
marks  a  new  era  in  the  government  of  India. 

As   already   hinted,   the   study   of   Miss    Nightingale's 


MINISTRIES  TO  THE  SICK  313 

career  naturally  suggests  a  comparison  with  the  singularly- 
parallel  career  of  John  Howard,  who  attempted  his  "  cir- 
cumnavigation of  charity  "  in  the  interests  of  the  prison 
reform,  and  with  that  of  Elizabeth  Fry  who,  born  ten  years 
before  Howard's  death,  in  a  remarkable  manner  took  up 
and  carried  on  at  Newgate  and  other  prisons  of  Britain, 
the  work  he  began.  It  is  another  curious  coincidence  that 
each  lived  about  the  same  period — sixty-five  years. 

The  labors  of  Miss  Nightingale  have  led  to  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Red  Cross  Association,  which  had  its  origin, 
nine  years  after  the  Crimean  war  called  her  to  the  scenes 
of  oriental  conflict,  in  a  proposal  made  in  February  1863, 
at  a  meeting  of  the  Society  Genevoise  by  Henry  Dumant, 
who  had  witnessed  the  horrors  of  Italian  battlefields, 
"  whether  it  would  not  be  possible  in  time  of  peace  to  form 
societies  for  the  relief  of  the  wounded  when  war  should 
again  break  out "  ?  A  committee  appointed  to  examine 
into  the  matter  called  an  International  Congress  at  Gen- 
eva, in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  and  another  general 
congress  convened  in  Geneva  in  1864,  at  which  sixteen 
European  powers  were  represented,  and  the  terms  of  a 
treaty  were  signed  by  twelve  delegates  and  later  by  four 
others.  The  principal  terms  of  this  convention,  were  that 
in  time  of  war  the  hospitals  and  all  pertaining  to  them  be 
considered  as  on  neutral  ground  and  wounded  and  sick 
soldiers  shall  be  cared  for,  to  whatever  side  they  belong 
in  the  conflict.* 


♦Article  I.  Ambulances  and  military  hospitals  shall  be  acknowledged  to 
be  neutral,  and,  as  such,  shall  be  protected  and  respected  by  belligerents  so 
long  as  any  sick  or  wounded  may  be  therein.  Such  neutrality  shall  cease  if 
the  ambulances  or  hospitals  shall  be  held  by  military  force. 

Article  II.  Persons  employed  in  hospitals  and  ambulances,  comprising 
the  staff  for  superintendence,  medical  service,>dministration,  transport  of 
wounded,  as  well  as  chaplain,  shall  participate  in  the  benefit  of  neutrality 
while  so  employed,  and  so  long  as  there  remain  any  wounded  to  bring  in  or 
to  succor. 

Article  III.    The  persons  designated  in  the  preceding  article  may,  even 


314  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

It  was  necessary,  according  to  Article  VII,  to  have  a 
flag  or  sign  to  distinguish  those  laboring  under  the  direc- 
tion of  this  organization.  A  red  cross  upon  a  white  back- 
ground was  chosen.  This  choice  was  for  the  purpose  of 
honoring  Switzerland.  It  shows  the  flag  of  that  country 
reversed. 

In  1867,  at  Paris,  the  rules  of  the  convention  were  ex- 
tended to  naval  conflicts  also.  The  beneficence  of  the 
Red  Cross  Association  was  soon  and  very  grandly  proven, 
in  the  wars  of  1864  and  1866  and  subsequently  in  the 
Franco-Prussian,  Russo-Turkish,  American  Civil  War, 
America- Spanish  War,  &c.  In  the  war  of  1866,  nearly 
14,000  Austrian  wounded  were  cared  for  by  the  Prussian 
Society  of  the  Red  Cross,  at  a  total  expense  of  over  a 
million  and  a  half  of  dollars,  and  in  the  Franco-Prussian 
war  the  Red  Cross  had  25,000  beds  in  towns  between 
Dusseldorf  and  Baden  alone. 


after  occupation  by  the  enemy,  continue  to  fulfil  their  duties  in  the  hospital 
or  ambulance  which  they  serve,  or  may  withdraw  to  join  the  corps  to  which 
they  belong.  Under  such  circumstances,  when  these  persons  shall  cease  from 
these  functions,  they  shall  be  delivered  by  the  occupying  army  to  the  out- 
posts of  the  enemy.  They  shall  have  the  special  right  of  sending  a  represen- 
tative to  the  headquarters  of  their  respective  armies. 

Article  IV.  As  the  equipment  of  military  hospitals  remains  subject  to 
the  laws  of  war,  persons  attached  to  such  hospitals  can  not,  in  withdrawing, 
carry  away  articles  which  are  not  their  private  property.  Under  the  same 
circumstances  an  ambulance  shall,  on  the  contrary,  retain  its  equipment. 

Article  V.  Inhabitants  of  the  country  who  may  bring  help  to  the 
wounded  shall  be  respected  and  remain  free.  The  generals  of  the  belligerent 
powers  shall  make  it  their  care  to  inform  the  inhabitants  of  this  appeal  ad- 
dressed to  their  humanity,  and  of  the  neutrality  which  will  be  the  conse- 
quence of  it.  Any  wounded  man  entertained  and  taken  care  of  in  a  house 
shall  be  considered  as  a  protection  thereto.  Any  inhabitant  who  shall  have 
entertained  wounded  men  in  his  house  shall  be  exempted  from  the  quartering 
of  troops,  as  well  as  from  the  contributions  of  war  which  may  be  imposed. 

Article  VI.  Wounded  or  sick  soldiers,  whatever  their  nationality,  shall 
be  cared  for. 

Commanders-in-chief  shall  have  the  power  to  deliver  immediately  to  the 
outposts  of  the  enemy,  soldiers  who  have  been  wounded  in  an  engagment. 
when  circumstances  permit  this  to  be  done,  with  the  consent  of  both  parties. 
Those  who  are  recognized  as  incapable  of  serving,  after  they  are  healed, 


MINISTRIES  TO  THE  SICK  315 

In  1883,  Queen  Victoria  instituted  the  Red  Cross  order 
in  behalf  of  the  British  Army,  with  a  fitting  decoration. 

Every  country  in  Europe  and  almost  every  nation  on 
the  globe  has  signed  this  treaty,  the  United  States  being 
almost  the  last  formally  to  accept  its  humane  principles. 

During  the  late  wars,  among  women  were  many  who 
followed  the  American  armies  and  cared  for  the  wounded 
upon  the  battle  field  and  in  the  hospital.  One  of  the  very 
best  of  these  nurses  was  Miss  Clara  Barton.  With  un- 
tiring zeal  she  worked,  with  her  heart  of  love,  through 
all  those  years  of  the  Civil  war.  Her  labor  for  others  did 
not  close  when  the  war  was  at  an  end.  Many  an  anxious 
parent  or  friend  had  sons  or  loved  ones  who  were  asleep 
in  nameless  graves.  Miss  Barton  began  the  great  task  of 
marking  the  graves  of  those  who  fell  in  that  war,  and  for 
three  years  she  labored  and  toiled,  until  success  beyond  all 
expectation  crowned  her  efforts. 

With  the  Red  Cross  movement  in  America,  the  name  of 
Miss  Barton  is  henceforth  conspicuously  linked. 

shall  be  sent  back  to  their  country.  The  others  also  may  be  sent  back  on 
condition  of  not  again  bearing  arms  during  the  continuance  of  the  war. 
Evacuations,  together  with  the  persons  under  whose  direction  they  take 
place,  shall  be  protected  by  an  absolute  neutrality. 

Article  VII.  A  distinctive  and  uniform  flag  shall  be  adopted  for  hospi- 
tals, ambulances,  and  evacuated  places.  It  must  on  every  occasion  be  accom- 
panied by  the  National  flag.  An  arm-badge  shall  also  be  allowed  for  indi- 
viduals neutralized,  but  the  delivery  of  it  shall  be  left  to  military  authority. 
The  flag  and  arm- badge  shall  bear  a  red  cross  on  a  white  ground. 

Article  VIII.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  conquering  army  to  supervise,  as  far 
as  circumstances  permit,  the  soldiers,  who  have  fallen  on  the  field  of  battle, 
to  preserve  them  from  pillage  and  bad  treatment,  and  to  bury  the  dead  in 
conformity  with  strict  sanitary  rules.  The  contractmg  powers  will  take 
care  that  in  time  of  war  every  soldier  is  furnished  with  a  compulsory  and 
uniform  token,  appropriate  for  establishing  his  identity.  This  token  shall 
indicate  his  name,  place  of  birth,  as  well  as  the  army  corps,  regiment,  and 
company  to  which  he  belongs.  In  case  of  death,  this  document  shall  be  with- 
drawn before  his  burial,  and  remitted  to  the  civil  or  military  authorities  of 
the  place  of  enlistment  or  home.  Lists  of  dead,  wounded,  sick,  and  prisoners, 
shall  be  communicated,  as  far  as  possible,  immediately  after  an  action  to  the 
commander  of  the  opposing  arm}!-  by  diplomatic  or  military  means. 

The  contents  of  this  article,  so  far  as  they  are  applicable  to  the  maxim,  and 
capable  of  execution,  shall  be  observed  by  victorious  naval  forces. 


3i6  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

The  close  of  this  task  found  her,  like  Miss  Nightingale, 
broken  in  health,  and  her  physicians  urged  her  to  go  to 
Europe,  for  a  change  of  air  and  rest.  Not  long  after  the 
Franco-Prussian  war  broke  out,  and  the  sufferings  in- 
cident to  war  led  her  again  to  enter  the  battle  field  to  al- 
leviate them,  and  made  her  acquainted  with  the  workings 
of  the  Red  Cross.  She  saw  how  incomplete  was  her  labor 
in  the  American  Civil  war,  through  inadequate  organi- 
zation. The  Red  Cross  supplied  the  lack.  The  child 
bearing  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  a  wounded  soldier  was  ab- 
solutely safe  in  the  enemy's  ranks,  with  the  Red  Cross  on 
the  arm. 

Miss  Barton  returned  to  America  resolved  to  have  the 
principles  of  the  Red  Cross  adopted  by  the  United  Slates. 
She  visited  President  Garfield,  who  had  been  a  soldier, 
and  knew  how  much  suffering  might  be  alleviated  by 
proper  means,  and  he  promised  to  do  all  in  his  power  for 
the  new  movement.  He  brought  it  before  his  cabinet,  and 
had  it  brought  before  Congress,  and  through  his  labors  it 
passed  both  houses.  Laws  regulating  the  action  of  the 
nation  in  times  of  war  were  changed  to  conform  with  the 
regulations  of  the  Red  Cross.  Just  as  the  treaty  was 
ready  for  his  signature,  the  assassin's  bullet  took  his  life. 

This  treaty  of  the  Red  Cross  is  one  of  the  missionary 
movements  of  our  century.  It  has  caused  all  nations  to 
see  more  fully  the  cruelty  and  horrors  of  war,  and  has 
tended  towards  the  settlement  of  national  difficulties  by 
arbitration,  rather  than  by  arms,  thus,  indirectly,  further- 
ing peace  and  unity  among  nations.  Even  outside  of  the 
miseries  of  war,  this  organization  has  for  its  prime  object 
the  relief  of  suffering.  Muskets  and  cannon  may  be  silent 
for  a  while,  but  the  warring  elements,  fire,  water,  and  wind, 
may  cause  suffering  at  any  time.  With  this  in  view,  there 
has  been  added  to  the  original  scheme  what  is  called  the 
American  amendment.  At  Washington,  D.  C,  is  stationed 


MINISTRIES  TO  THE  SICK  317 

a  field  agent,  who  visits  in  person  every  place  where  aid 
is  rendered.  In  1881,  it  relieved  those  who  suffered  from 
the  effects  of  the  forest  fifes  of  Michigan;  in  1882,  the 
suffering  incident  to  the  Mississippi  overflow;  in  1883, 
from  the  disaster  of  the  Ohio  River,  etc.,  and  the  Louisi- 
ana cyclone. 

War  will  never  again  be  attended  with  the  nameless 
and  needless  terrors  and  horrors  of  the  Crimean  hospitals. 
Christianity  has  indirect  as  well  as  direct  effects ;  and  her 
mission  in  the  world  is  not  only  Glory  to  God  in  the 
Highest,  but  on  Earth,  Peace,  Good  Will  toward  men. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

SYSTEMATIC  CHRISTIAN  WORK  AMONG  SOLDIERS 

No  work  done  among  soldiers  has  more  fascinating  in- 
terest than  that  of  the  late  Cav.  Luigi  Capellini  in  Rome, 
Italy,  the  "  Evangelical  Military  Church,"  founded  in 
1872  by  this  earnest  man  of  God. 

He  who  was  thus  at  the  head  of  this  enterprise  for 
twenty-five  years — and  whose  work  so  strangely  syn- 
chronized with  that  of  McAll  in  Paris — was  characterized 
as  "  the  soldiers'  friend,"  as  his  fellow-worker  in  France 
was  known  as  "  the  friend  of  les  oeuvriers."  From  its  in- 
ception this  project  was  essentially  Italian,  and  both  in  its 
promptings  and  methods  intensely  personal.  Signor 
Capellini  "  lived,  moved,  breathed,  and  had  his  being  "  in 
his  work  for  the  soldiers.  To  help,  teach,  and  in  every 
way  befriend  them ;  above  all,  to  introduce  them  to  the  true 
knowledge  of  the  Captain  of  their  salvation,  was  his  master 
passion.  His  fitness  for  the  service  for  which  he  had  such 
a  consuming  passion  showed  that  he  had  been  raised  up 
of  God  for  it;  that  it  was  his  divine  mission,  and  he,  an 
apostle — one  sent  of  God.  Many  young  men  of  the  Italian 
army  have  through  him  become  good  soldiers  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  have  endured  hardness  for  His  sake. 

Little  has  been  published  as  to  Capellini's  great  mis- 
sion, but  the  brief  "  memorials  "  are  doubly  interesting 
and  suggestive  to  such  as  have  been  at  the  chapel  services 
in  the  Eternal  City,  and  have  seen  the  ardor  of  this  con- 
secrated teacher  and  the  responsive  fervor  of  the  absorbed 
audience  which  gave  such  eager  ear  to  his  appeals. 

318 


SYSTEMATIC  CHRISTIAN  WORK        319 

Capellini  was  born  of  popish  parents  and  bred  in  Romish 
errors.  His  father  died  when  he  was  a  boy  of  ten,  and  his 
mother  sent  him  to  school  under  priestly  control,  where 
he  stayed  till  he  was  eighteen,  when  he  was  strangely  led 
to  enlist  in  the  army.  A  short  time  after,  in  strolling 
through  the  streets,  he  picked  up  some  leaves  of  the  New 
Testament.  They  proved  to  him  light  in  darkness,  liberty 
from  bondage,  and  life  from  the  dead.  A  new  proof  of 
the  power  of  the  living  Word  and  of  the  use  God  makes 
of  His  own  book.  Capellini  from  that  day  knew  that 
justification  and  salvation  come  by  faith  alone,  without 
human  merit  or  priestly  mediation,  and  at  once  he  became 
a  free  man  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Of  course,  he  had  to  meet  opposition.  His  companions 
tried  ridicule  and  threat.  They  sneered  at  him  as  a  fool, 
and  railed  at  him  as  **  a  Protestant."  They  warned  him 
that  the  Bible  is  a  bad  book  and  is  forbidden;  but  this 
drove  him  to  study  it  the  more  that  he  might  find  out  why 
it  was  a  proscribed  book.  He  longed  for  evangelical  tracts, 
something,  "  some  man,  to  guide  "  him  in  his  inquiry  after 
truth.  One  day  he  came  upon  a  man  who  was  giving 
away  just  what  he  wanted.  This  man  was  Angelo  Cas- 
tioni.  Miss  Burton's  Bible  colporteur.  He  won  his  con- 
fidence, and  that  very  evening  Capellini  and  Castioni  were 
together,  like  Philip  and  the  eunuch,  and  the  Italian  sol- 
dier went  on  his  way  rejoicing  that  he  had  enlisted  in  the 
army,  since  that  was  God's  way  of  bringing  him  to  the 
light  of  life. 

Pity  for  his  comrades  led  him  to  seek  to  bring  them  out 
into  larger  place  of  faith  in  the  great  sacrifice,  and  soon 
he  saw  them  taking  from  their  necks  the  medallion  images 
of  the  Virgin,  worn  as  a  charm,  and  studying  the  forbidden 
book;  and  not  a  few  were  converted.  Miss  Burton  fur^ 
nished  him  with  Testaments  and  tracts,  and  he  used  all  his 
available  time  in  opening  up  the  treasures  of  God's  Word 


320  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

to  as  many  of  his  comrades  as  he  could  gather  about  him  in 
the  barracks.  Soon  after,  the  command  of  a  detachment, 
sent  in  pursuit  of  the  brigands,  made  him  his  own  master, 
and  Capellini  had  rehgious  conferences  with  his  men  un- 
hindered. Morning  and  evening  they  had  readings  and 
prayers  in  common,  and  those  who  at  first  were  only 
hearers  of  the  Word,  became  doers  of  the  Word,  and 
then  distributors  of  the  Scriptures  among  the  scattered 
peasantry  on  mountains,  plains,  and  lowlands  about  Puglia 
and  the  Abruzzi.  Then  came  the  war  with  Austria,  in 
1866,  and  then  the  men  went  forth,  all  having  Bibles  in 
their  knapsacks,  and,  as  opportunity  afforded,  the  com- 
mander and  his  regiment  read  the  Scriptures  and  prayed 
together. 

The  thought  was  thus  born  in  Capellini's  mind  that,  by 
the  agency  of  converted  soldiers,  God's  Word  might  be 
borne  into  every  city,  village,  hut,  and  hovel,  and  from  this 
came  in  a  little  time  the  wider  conception  realized  in  the 
military  church. 

While  at  Parma,  Capellini  was  attacked  by  cholera.  His 
soldiers  never  left  him.  They  repaid  his  ministries,  read- 
ing and  praying  at  his  bedside,  and  interceding  with  God 
for  his  restoration.  As  strength  returned  to  him,  he  felt 
that  he  must  learn  more  of  the  Gospel  that  he  might  do 
more  for  men,  and  he  sought  the  help  of  Rev.  Henry  Pig- 
gott,  at  Padua,  at  the  same  time  enlarging  his  own  holy 
effort  in  behalf  of  soldiers.  Then,  as  Rome  became  free, 
he  felt  that  there  his  headquarters  must  be,  because  there 
was  the  main  rendezvous  for  the  military  class. 

Difficulties  and  dangers  found  him  undaunted.  Turned 
out  of  doors,  he  made  the  street  corners  his  meeting- 
places.  Crowds  hung  upon  his  words,  but  his  money  was 
exhausted.  But  God  stood  by  him.  Rev.  Mr.  Waite, 
minister  of  the  American  Union  church,  and  later^  Rev. 
Leroy  Vernon,  of  the  American  M.  E.  church,  came  to  his 


SYSTEMATIC  CHRISTIAN  WORK        321 

help,  until  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  assumed  the  support 
of  the  work,  provided  a  meeting-place,  and  paid  Capellini's 
salary. 

Easter,  1873,  witnessed  the  first  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  and  Whitsuntide  the  second,  when  of  the  200  per- 
sons present,  forty-five  were  communicants.  The  Roman 
Observer,  chief  organ  of  the  Vatican,  now  thundered 
against  this  "  proselytizing  of  the  soldiers."  Persecution 
began  to  lay  bare  her  red  right  arm,  and  soldiers  were  de- 
prived of  their  "  Protestant "  books,  and  there  were  even 
arrests  and  imprisonments.  Certain  converts  were  ar- 
raigned, but  refused  to  renounce  their  faith,  and  were 
dismissed  with  warnings  to  let  alone  evangelical  meetings 
and  Protestant  books.  A  report  was  sent  to  Prince  Urn- 
berto — since  King  of  Italy — giving  names  of  converted 
soldiers,  and  a  council  was  called  to  consider  how  this  work 
could  be  stopped.  Prince  Umberto  concluded  the  council 
with  these  memorable  words :  ''  See  that  no  political  plot- 
ting goes  on  under  a  religious  garb,  but  do  not  hinder  the 
men  from  fulfilling  the  duties  of  their  religion" 

This  story  has  a  charm  seldom  rivaled  in  any  tale  of 
Christian  heroism.  On  Christmas  day,  in  1873,  Admiral 
Fishbourne  presented,  in  behalf  of  English  soldiers,  two 
chalices  and  accompanying  vessels  for  the  eucharist,  and 
the  flagon  bears  the  inscription :  "  From  the  soldiers  of 
England  to  the  evangelical  soldiers  of  Italy."  And  such 
was  the  eagerness  of  the  men  to  be  present  at  the  Lord's 
Supper  that  they  stayed  in  Rome  at  their  own  cost,  paid 
for  substitutes,  if  on  duty,  or  slept  on  benches  in  the  chapel, 
if  too  poor  to  hire  lodgings. 

For  the  conduct  of  the  military  church,  a  deacon  was 
chosen  from  every  corps  and  from  the  hospital  attendants 
— the  latter  to  look  after  sick  soldiers.  It  is  interesting 
to  notice  how  this  hospital  deacon,  Basato,  met  the  priests 
and  nuns  bearing  the  consecrated  host  and  wafer  to  a  dying 


322  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

man.  They  bade  him  remove  his  cap  and  bow  his  knee, 
but  he  cahnly  answered :  ''  I  worship  God  alone,  and  not 
a  god  made  of  Hour."  This  exposed  him  to  persecution, 
but  he  bore  it  meekly. 

From  time  to  time  classes  are  discharged,  having  served 
their  time,  and  those  who  have  received  evangelical  truth 
are  sent  home  with  ample  supplies  of  good  books  to  give 
away,  and  so  this  military  church  is  a  recruiting  office  for 
the  ranks  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Cross.  During  the  legal 
period  of  service  the  troops  have  been  brought  under  the 
teaching  of  Capellini,  and  then  have  returned  home  to  dis- 
seminate the  precious  truths  they  have  learned,  and  become 
an  evangelizing  power  in  the  entire  country  of  their  birth. 
The  chapel  at  Rome  is  a  receiving  and  distributing  reser- 
voir through  which  the  Italian  soldiery  pass. 

In  1875  the  meetings  were  transferred  to  a  larger  chapel 
in  Via  Bottighi  Oscure,  where  a  library  was  started,  etc. 
When  the  same  year  the  military  church  kept  its  second 
anniversary,  250  soldiers  and  105  communicants  were 
present,  and,  as  on  former  occasions,  every  participant 
took  away  a  Bible  as  a  memento. 

The  soldiers,  who  as  converts  return  to  their  homes,  have 
to  meet  persecution.  Some  have  to  leave  their  homes,  and 
even  the  neighborhood,  and  flee  to  some  other  place,  strip- 
ped of  everything  except  their  faith.  Yet  conversions  go 
on  at  Rome,  and  the  work  of  witness  everywhere  where 
the  "  elect  dispersion  "  are  scattered. 

On  one  occasion  the  church  was  much  disturbed  by  the 
colonel  of  the  Bersaglieri,  who,  by  pretenses  of  various 
sorts,  found  out  who  were  evangelicals,  and  took  all  their 
books  from  them.  Capellini  complained  to  the  general  in 
command,  and  the  result  was  again  a  vindication,  for  it 
was  found  that  these  Protestant  "  perverts  "  were  in  no 
way  transgressing  their  duties  as  soldiers  of  Italy;  and  a 
religion  that  makes  better  men  and  more  loyal  soldiers  may 


SYSTEMATIC  CHRISTIAN  WORK        323 

find  toleration  even  in  the  Italian  army.  As  a  colonel 
said,  when  told  that  the  whole  regiment  was  turning  Prot- 
estant :  "  Better  the  evangelical  meeting  than  the  tavern 
or  brothel." 

The  whole  history  of  these  twenty-seven  years  is  full  of 
romantic  reality,  but  abounds  with  examples  of  the  power 
of  the  Word  of  God,  and  of  the  God  whose  Word  it  is. 
How  often  have  officers,  who  have  forced  the  men  to  give 
up  their  testaments,  read  a  few  pages,  out  of  curiosity,  and 
found  salvation !  Once  a  soldier,  who  had  frequented  the 
meetings  and  accepted  the  books  gathered  his  comrades 
by  the  Tiber  and  threw  the  books  into  the  river.  Many 
fell  short,  however,  and  were  picked  up  on  the  bank,  and 
again  led  to  the  knowledge  of  God.  The  name  and  ad- 
dress of  the  military  church  being  on  the  cover,  this  also 
drew  the  men  to  come  to  the  meetings,  so  that  some  of 
them  witnessed  that  they  had  "  become  disciples  of  Christ 
by  means  of  a  New  Testament  saved  from  the  water." 
Again  a  host  at  a  tavern  found  on  the  dead  body  of  a  victim 
of  accident  a  Capellini  Testament,  which  he  stole  glances 
at  and  begged  he  might  keep. 

The  heroism  of  Capellini  could  be  learned  only  at  the 
Cross.  In  the  army  of  Italy  all  shades  of  opinion  are 
found,  from  atheism  to  ultramontanism,  and  acts  of  in- 
tolerance are  inevitable  from  those  who,  because  they  be- 
lieve nothing,  persecute  believers,  or  from  those  who,  be- 
cause they  believe  something,  will  allow  no  one  to  hold  any 
other  doctrine.  And  so  the  poor  soldiers  run  a  perpetual 
gauntlet  between  two  rows  of  enemies,  the  infidels  and  the 
bigots,  both  armed  with  clubs  that  are  as  merciless  as  the 
iron  flail  of  Talus. 

Again,  the  convert  is  in  constant  danger  of  imposition 
as  well  as  opposition  from  some  officer,  as  when  a  private, 
Luigi  Fares,  for  a  month  was  kept  on  duty  so  constantly 
that  he  had  not  a  night's  rest  in  bed. 


324  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Perhaps  the  greatest  discouragement  of  Capellini  was 
the  constant  depletion  of  his  church  membership  by  the 
return  of  soldiers  to  their  homes.  In  the  autumn  of  1880 
the  soldiers'  church  had  but  twenty  left  in  Rome,  and  six 
regiments,  with  7,200  men,  had  not  among  them  one  Pro- 
testant. In  1 88 1,  400  registered  hearers  of  the  previous 
year  were  transferred,  and  only  37  communicants  re- 
mained. Yet  the  same  untiring,  persistent  evangelism! 
Capellini  and  his  evangelists  and  colporteurs  stationed 
themselves  at  the  fountains  where  all  have  to  go  for  water, 
and  there  led  thirsty  souls  to  the  well  of  living  waters ;  or 
they  went  away  to  more  distant  encampments  to  gather  in 
recruits  for  the  army  of  the  Lord.  And,  when  the  soldiers 
leave  Rome,  as  active  a  correspondence  as  is  possible  is 
kept  up  with  these  scattered  members  of  the  flock,  who  are 
often  as  sheep  among  wolves.  Tracts,  Testaments,  and 
books  are  diligently  and  at  all  times  scattered  in  every  di- 
rection, and  blessed  are  they  who,  like  Mr.  Hawke  and 
Mrs.  Robertson,  have  the  privilege  of  supplying  the  seed 
for  such  wide  sowing. 

The  results  of  this  work  can  not  be  tabulated,  but  the 
first  eight  years'  labor  showed  an  aggregate  of  730  reg- 
istered converts.  What  could  be  shown  if  all  the  fruits  of 
the  work  of  the  subsequent  seventeen  years  could  be  pre- 
sented also!  And  what  of  the  unhistoried  distribution 
of  the  Word  of  God  and  of  the  living  epistles ! 

Cav.  Luigi  Capellini  was  a  minister  of  the  Wesleyan 
Methodists,  who  supported  his  work  in  the  main,  but  the 
soldiers  of  the  military  church  are  not  reckoned  as  Wes- 
leyans,  but  are  encouraged  to  join  the  evangelical  body 
nearest  their  homes,  and  all  evangelical  communities  are 
gainers  by  the  undenominational  work  done  in  Rome.  Let 
Christian  visitors  go  and  see  for  themselves  the  noble  work 
done  in  Via  delle  Coppelle  No.  28,  and  Christian  givers 


SYSTEMATIC  CHRISTIAN  WORK        325 

send  help  in  the  Lord's  name,  and  so  become  sharers  in 
this  noble  work. 

In  1879,  Leo  XIII.  took  alarm  and  ordered  the  monks 
and  nuns  in  the  military  hospitals  to  carry  out  among  the 
soldiers  a  more  aggressive  propaganda,  and  the  Bibles  were 
stolen  from  under  the  pillows,  and  every  effort  was  made 
by  threat  and  bribe  to  induce  them  to  return  to  popish 
books  and  priests,  but  in  vain. 

In  his  report  for  1897,  Cav.  Luigi  Capellini  wrote: 

"  In  one  of  the  meetings,  among  the  young  men  attentively 
listening  to  the  preaching  of  the  Word,  I  noticed  a  young  corporal 
of  pavalry  who  made  a  strong  impression  upon  me  by  his  in- 
telligent air  and  the  attention  which  he  paid  to  the  sermon.  My 
second  son,  Alfred,  a  student  at  th^  University,  who  goes  to  the 
services,  and  sometimes  takes  my  place  when  I  am  absent,  went 
up  to  him  and  invited  him  to  come  up  to  the  house.  Here  we 
found  that  he  is  the  nephew  of  the  pope — Count  Pecci.  His  open 
countenance,  his  loyal  and  frank  way  of  speaking,  convinced  us 
that  he  was  really  seeking  the  truth,  and  I  gave  him  a  Bible 
and  some  books.  His  uncle,  the  pope,  had  made  him  one  of  his 
*  Guardia  Nobile/ —  but  he  had  to  serve  under  the  king  as  an 
Italian  subject  He  not  only  continued  to  attend  the  services  as 
long  as  he  was  in  Rome,  but  he  also  brought  with  him  many  of 
the  men  under  him,  thus  becoming  himself  a  propagator  of  the 
truth." 

Later  on  in  his  report,  Signor  Capellini  said  that  in  order 
to  stop  or  neutralize  his  work,  the  priests  instituted 
organizations  called  Catholic  Military  Clubs,  providing  for 
the  soldiers  amusement,  cigars,  and  tobacco,  and  Catholic 
books.  Among  these  books  was  one  called  "  Errors  and 
Heresies  of  the  Protestants,"  in  which  ridicule  was  cast 
upon  the  services  of  the  military  church.  It  was  important 
that  something  should  be  done  to  meet  this  dangerous  in- 
novation, so  Cav.  Capellini  opened  schools  in  which  the 
uneducated  soldiers  might  be  taught  to  read  and  write,  and 
provided  rooms  with  books  and  writing  materials  for  the 


326  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

use  of  the  better  instructed.  This  provision  has  been 
highly  appreciated  by  the  men,  and  the  work  has  gone  for- 
ward all  along  the  line. 

WORK  AMONG  THE  SOLDIERS  OF  INDIA. 

The  "  Prayer  Room  "  movement  and  Soldiers'  Christian 
Association  in  India  is  another  of  the  comparatively  un- 
known forms  of  Christian  service  among  those  who  follow 
the  profession  of  arms.  W.  B.  Harington  is  the  founder 
of  this  really  great  enterprise,  that  has  been  so  singularly 
owned  and  sealed  of  God. 

If  anything  has  been  a  public  scandal  it  has  been  the 
British  soldier  in  the  land  of  the  Hindus.  His  life,  char- 
acter, and  environment  have  to  a  surprising  extent  been  the 
theme  of  private  and  public  comment  for  twenty-five  years. 
So  dark,  so  sad  has  been  the  picture  drawn  that  there  have 
been  not  a  few  who  have  contended  that  there  was  a  fa- 
tality about  his  evil-doing,  and  that  the  combined  influ- 
ences of  climate,  diet,  army  life,  separation  from  home  in- 
fluence, and  the  contagion  of  a  vicious  atmosphere,  both 
perpetuate  and  extenuate  a  low  type  of  morals.  The 
Christian  sentiment  of  the  world  has  been  shocked — nay 
the  worst  of  it  is  that  so  much  so-called  Christian  sentiment 
has  not  been  shocked — when  a  life  of  shameless  debauch- 
ery has  been  defended,  and  unlawful  lust  been  provided 
for  as  tho  lechery  were  a  necessity !  and  even  a  conspicuous 
Christian  woman  has  been  found  to  justify  the  sacrifice 
of  her  own  sex  on  the  altar  of  this  modern  unchastity. 

We  are  glad  to  be  able  to  paint  a  very  different  picture, 
and  show  how  much  has  been  already  done  to  help  British 
soldiers  to  learn  the  victorious  power  of  the  Christ-life,  and 
so  to  walk  in  the  Spirit  as  not  to  fulfil  the  lusts  of  the  flesh. 
We  do  not  designedly  pass  by  any  other  good  work  done 
in  promoting  sobriety  and  chastity,  by  the  army  Temper- 
ance Association  and  army  guilds,  etc.,  when  we  refer 


SYSTEMATIC  CHRISTIAN  WORK        327 

somewhat  at  length  to  the  noble  effort  of  Mr.  Harington, 
which  was  first  begun  in  1859  ^^  Oudh,  and  has  for  more 
than  forty  years  been  spreading  throughout  India,  and 
even  to  Cairo,  Mauritius,  and  Singapore. 

For  many  years  Mr.  Harington  has  met  the  British  sol- 
diers five  times  a  week,  in  barracks,  camp,  or  on  the  line  of 
march.  Forty  years  ago,  three  soldiers  of  the  54th  Regi- 
ment, quartered  in  Oudh,  came  over  from  camp  to  the  tent 
of  Mr.  Harington,  where  he  was  occupied  with  the  matter 
of  hutting  British  troops,  and  asked  that  they  might  use  for 
devotional  meetings,  every  evening,  a  small  building  he 
had  just  completed  for  an  office.  And  now  Mr.  Haring- 
ton has,  with  government  sanction  and  aid,  secured,  and  in 
fact,  erected,  in  nearly  every  military  center  throughout 
India,  a  Soldiers'  Prayer-Room.  So  manifest  were  the 
blessed  results  attending  his  earlier  efforts  that,  as  a  matter 
of  the  "  Department  of  Public  Works,"  with  which  he  was 
connected,  it  was  deemed  the  most  economical  use  of  the 
public  funds  to  provide  at  least  one  place  in  every  British 
cantonment,  where  the  soldiers  may  find  a  reading-room, 
writing-room,  and  a  meeting-place  for  Sunday  and  week- 
day assemblies  for  prayer  and  praise.  Mr.  Harington  has 
planned  these  buildings,  their  size,  shape,  and  fittings,  and 
they  are  places  which  the  soldiers  may  call  their  own.  In 
1868,  the  governor- general  in  council  declared  that  such 
rooms  "  shall  be  considered  one  of  the  recognized  require- 
ments in  the  barracks  of  every  British  regiment  or  consid- 
erable detachment  of  troops ;  "  and  thenceforth  the  govern- 
ment undertook  the  provision  and  maintenance  of  these 
prayer-room  buildings  with  fittings,  furniture,  lighting, 
warming,  cooling,  etc. 

Mr.  Harington  has  also  formed  in  every  cavalry  regi- 
ment, infantry  battalion,  and  nearly  every  battery  of  royal 
artillery,  in  service  in  India,  a  branch  of  the  Soldiers' 
Christian  Association.     The  diminution  of  vice  and  crime 


328  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

has  been  remarkable.  The  loss  of  good  conduct  badges, 
the  trials  by  court  martial  with  imprisonment  and  other 
penalties,  have  comparatively  ceased,  and  the  physical  and 
moral  health  of  the  whole  army  has  been  vastly  improved. 
The  governors,  judges,  magistrates,  and  statesmen,  who 
have  been  most  eminent  in  Indian  affairs,  have  been  the 
foremost  in  their  testimony  to  Mr.  Harington's  work  and 
given  their  aid  in  it ;  and  from  officers,  chaplains,  and  men, 
he  has  had  warm  and  enthusiastic  support  in  his  self-deny- 
ing and  successful  labors.  Government  aid  did  not  cover 
such  items  as  Bibles,  hymn-books,  libraries,  papers  and 
magazines,  wall  textSj  and  table  covers  and  table  lamps, 
clocks,  musical  instruments,  etc.,  so  that  for  the  proper 
prosecution  of  the  work  donations  are  constantly  needful, 
and  the  more  as  the  work  rapidly  expands.  Printing, 
stationery,  postage,  traveling  expenses,  etc.,  need  also  to 
be  met  by  special  gifts. 

In  1895  the  number  of  prayer- rooms  was  89,  of  which 
30  were  garrison  or  depot,  5  cavalry,  19  artillery,  35  in- 
fantry, and  the  average  expenditure  was  but  ten  pounds 
annually  for  each  room.  Up  to  the  end  of  1889  Mr.  Har- 
ington  met  to  a  very  large  extent  out  of  his  own  purse  the 
needs  of  the  work.  Since  retiring  from  service — having 
reached  the  age  limit — he  has  given  his  entire  time  and 
attention  to  this  work,  and  hence  has  been  unable  to  bear 
the  financial  burdens  as  he  did  when  in  government  em- 
ploy. 

The  work  which  is  before  Mr.  Harington  and  his  helpers 
is  nothing  less  than  winning  soldiers  to  Christ.  The  Word 
of  God,  prayer,  praise,  personal  contact,  all  wholesome  re- 
straints and  loving  constraints,  are  the  weapons  which 
have  proved  not  carnal  indeed,  but  mighty  to  the  pulling 
down  of  the  strongholds.  The  motto  which  is  to  be  found 
conspicuous  in  the  prayer-rooms,  "  Jesus  only,"  well  de- 
fines the  basis  of  trust  and  the  object  of  effort.     "  Joined 


SYSTEMATIC  CHRISTIAN  WORK        329 

in  prayer — joined  in  thfe  Word — joined  in  His  work," — 
this  is  the  practical  bond  and  secret  of  unity.  The  work 
is  carried  on  as  under  the  eye  of  the  great  Commander. 
Knowing  Mr.  Harington  personally,  we  have  no  hesitancy 
in  commending  this  work  to  the  sympathy,  prayer,  and  pe- 
cuniary aid  of  every  true  lover  of  the  soldier  and  his  wel- 
fare. The  Soldiers'  Bible  and  Prayer  Union  (with  the 
Soldiers'  Magazine  as  the  common  organ)  was  started  in 
1886,  and  is  now  therefore  in  its  fourteenth  year.* 

THE  soldiers'  CHURCH  IN  ADEN. 

Of  the  work  among  the  soldiers  in  Aden  there  is  not 
space  to  treat.  Under  the  charge  of  Dr.  John  C.  Young 
it  progresses  promisingly.  Dr.  Young,  who  went  to 
Arabia  under  the  Keith  Falconer  mission  to  work  for 
Arabs,  writes: 

"  When  I  came  here  five  years  ago,  I  found  that  the  non- 
Anglican  soldiers  were  without  a  place  of  worship,  and  that  no 
services  of  any  kind  were  carried  on.  .  .  ,  Having  obtained 
liberty  from  the  home  committee,  services  were  started,  and  con- 
tinued for  four  years,  in  the  largest  room  of  the  principal  hotel 
in  Aden.  On  the  fifth  anniversary,  however,  we  entered  our  new 
church.  Since  then  we  have  never  had  a  smaller  congregation  at 
the  evening  service  than  100  soldiers,  and  last  Sabbath  there  were 
twice  as  many  soldiers  as  the  government  return  declared  there 
are  of  non-Anglican  soldiers  in  the  whole  garrison. 

"  Many  have  declared  that  they  have  been  spiritually  helped. 
One  man,  who  had  been  promoted  through  bribing  his  senior 
non-commissioned  officer,  after  conversion  handed  me  iio  to  send 
anonymously  to  the  man  he  had  wronged,  and,  having  given  up 
his  stripes,  declared  that  he  never  felt  more  happy  in  his  life. 
Nearly  a  year  after  he  wrote,  telling  me  of  the  real  joy  he  felt, 
and  how  now  he  could  speak  to  his  fellows  with  a  clear  con- 
science. 

"  At  the  prayer-meetings  on  Wednesday  nights  there  are  some- 


♦  Address,  W.  B.  Harington,  Gen,  Hon.  Secretary,  S.  C.  A.,  Totland  Bay, 
Isle  of  Wight,  England. 


330  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

times  more  soldiers  present  than  at  '  parade  service/  when  the 
men  are  forced  to  attend.  The  vestry  of  the  church  is  used  by 
the  soldiers'  Christian  association,  '  and  there  is  a  meeting  of 
some  sort  every  night'  " 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

WORK  AMONG  DEEP  SEA  FISHERMEN 

How  seldom  do  we  ponder  over  the  fact  that,  as  the 
Scotch  ballad  puts  it,  "  the  price  of  fish  is  the  lives  of 
men !  " 

"  Nor'ard  of  the  Dogger  "  is  the  story  of  "  Deep  Sea 
Trials  and  Gospel  Triumphs,"  or  the  work  among  the 
deep  sea  fishermen.  E.  J.  Mather  was  the  founder  and 
for  some  years  the  director  of  the  mission,  which  belongs 
conspicuously  among  the  marked  movements  which  we  are 
now  tracing  as  parts  of  God's  providential  plan. 

The  support  of  these  mission  ships  in  the  northern  seas 
is  a  many  sided  benefaction.  It  looks  to  the  physical, 
mental,  moral  and  spiritual  uplifting  of  a  numerous  and 
hitherto  much  neglected  class,  scattering  wholesome  read- 
ing, giving  surgical  and  medical  aid,  offsetting  the 
wretched  grogships;  but  above  all  the  mission  ship  be- 
comes to  multitudes  a  lifeboat  indeed,  in  which  they  find 
salvation  from  the  second  death. 

A  simple  question — as  in  so  many  other  cases — was  the 
starting  point  in  this  new  mission.  In  the  autumn  of 
1 88 1, — now  nearly  twenty  years  since — a  man,  interested 
in  those  who  sail  the  sea,  said  to  Mr.  Mather,  "  Don't 
you  think  something  might  be  done  for  our  men  in  the 
North  Sea  ?  "  Ignorant  of  all  the  real  conditions  of  these 
fishermen,  and  scarcely  knowing  of  their  existence,  the 
answer  was  one  of  those  ready  replies  whereby  even  Chris- 
tian workers  evade  such  approaches :  "  O,  yes,  I  might 
send  them  some  parcels  of  tracts."     The  questioner,  with 

331 


332  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

a  hearty  laugh,  replied :  ''  You  can't  have  much  notion  of 
who  and  what  our  men  are,  if  you  think  that  sending  a 
bundle  of  tracts  would  be  '  doing '  anything  in  the  sense 
intended." 

How  many  of  us  know  much  more  than  Mr.  Mather 
then  did,  of  that  floating  population, — upwards  of  twelve 
thousand — ^that  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships  and  do  busi- 
ness in  the  great  waters,  between  lat.  54  degrees  and  56 
degrees  N.,  forced  to  fight  the  winds  and  waves,  because 
too  far  from  the  shore  to  find  shelter?  Voyages  of  two 
months,  with  only  a  few  days  on  land  in  the  intervals,  oc- 
cupy the  deep  sea  trawler,  with  whom  this  life  is  so  hard 
that  the  "  life  to  come  "  has  little  thought  or  care.  The 
Dogger  Bank  reaches  about  170  miles  north  and  south 
by  65  east  and  west,  and  it  is  a  harvest  field  whose  annual 
average  yield  is  400,000  tons  of  fish.  Mr.  Mather,  with 
his  companion.  Rev.  R.  B.  Thompson,  on  their  experi- 
mental trip,  came  up  with  the  "  Short  Blues  "  about  300 
miles  from  the  Thames,  and  beheld  220  fishing-smacks, 
of  from  50  to  80  tons  burden,  extending  for  miles  each  way 
from  the  admiral's  vessel.  Among  the  1,500  men  in  the 
fleet,  there  might  have  been  one  in  fifty  that  was  a  profess- 
ing Christian;  but  the  rest  were  heedless,  godless,  uni- 
versally profane,  and  quarrelsome.  The  visitors  had  with 
them  1,000  portions  of  the  New  Testament  and  sundry 
illustrated  periodicals — furnished  free  by  the  Bible  and 
Tract  societies  of  Britain — and  these  they  gave  away  to 
men  hungry  for  anything  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  their 
life. 

Of  course  difficulties  were  to  be  grappled  with 
among  such  a  class  of  men — stormy  opposition  there  was 
sure  to  be  where  Satan  had  so  long  had  a  supreme  control, 
and  the  worse  antagonism  of  indifference — the  dead  calm 
or  apathy  and  lethargy.  A  few  men  were  found  longing 
for  some  stated  "  means  of  grace  " — hungry  for  a  prayer 


WORK  AMONG  DEEP  SEA  FISHERMEN  333 

meeting,  a  testimony  meeting,  a  time  to  hear  God's  word 
and  to  offer  worship :  but  the  most  of  them  and  conspicu- 
ously godless  captains  were  rather  ready  to  curse  the  men 
who  came  to  turn  the  fishing  smack  into  a  gospelship,  and 
some  were  so  hardened  that  they  would  rather  have  a 
floating  ginshop  or  brothel  than  a  floating  chapel  or 
Bethel. 

Away  in  that  North  sea  sin  may  be  seen  in  its  awful 
nakedness,  with  all  its  fascinations  stripped  off.  The 
greatest  foe  of  the  fishermen  was  the  coper  or  grogshop, 
the  curse  of  the  fleet.  For  more  than  fifty  years  these  for- 
eign vessels  hung  about  the  British  trawling  ships.  They 
seem  first  to  have  come  from  Dutch  ports  bordering  the 
fishing  banks,  and  to  have  originally  been  trading  shops  for 
clothing,  etc. ;  but  they  rapidly  degenerated  into  grogshops. 
The  Dutch  copers  made  a  pretense  of  selling  tobacco, 
which  on  these  boats  escaped  the  heavy  duty,  and  could 
be  bought  for  less  than  half  what  it  cost  on  shore;  but 
once  on  board  the  fisherman  found  himself  within  the 
clutch  of  the  drink  temptation ;  and  many  a  total  abstainer, 
beginning  with  "  von  leetle  drop  "  by  and  by  would  trade 
sails,  ropes,  nets  or  even  the  clothes  on  his  back,  as  well 
as  fish,  for  drink.  The  coper  has  been  well  called  the 
"  Devil's  mission  ship."  And  grog  worked  ruin  on  the 
sea  as  everywhere — only  worse ;  for  what  must  become  of 
a  fleet  in  a  gale  when  skipper  and  crew  were  dead  drunk 
on  the  cabin  floor !  or  when  a  drunken  steersman  had  hold 
on  the  helm,  or  men,  crazed  by  whiskey,  would  leap  over- 
board! Where  Dutchmen  set  the  example,  even  English- 
men were  found  to  follow ;  vessels  sailed  from  British  har- 
bors, disguised  as  trawlers,  and  steered  straight  for 
Nieudiep,  took  in  grog  and  tobacco  and  joined  the  fleet  to 
make  one  hundred  per  cent  profit,  in  a  voyage  that  took 
but  a  few  weeks  or  months.  Action  against  the  copers 
was  first  taken  by  the  insurance  companies  that  refused 


334  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

applications  unless  the  abandonment  of  the  whiskey  trade 
was  a  condition. 

Here,  then,  these  two  visitors  to  the  Nor'ard  fleet  saw 
in  their  five  days  on  board  a  promising — certainly  a 
needy — field  for  a  mission.  In  a  village  of  1,500  souls, 
which  was  the  population  of  the  floating  village — there 
would  be  four  churches  or  chapels,  as  many  doctors,  a 
dispensary,  library,  town  hall  and  mechanics'  institute: 
should  not  the  cruisers  ha.ve  at  least  some  of  these  ad- 
vantages ?  The  purpose  slowly  took  form :  these  fishermen 
must  have  a  mission  vessel — which  should  be  at  once 
church,  temperance  hall,  library  and  dispensary. 

Like  every  true  work  for  God,  prayer  was  its  baptism 
into  Christ,  and  its  chrism  of  power ;  and  prayer  brought 
an  offer  of  1,000  pounds,  to  rig  up  and  send  out  a  fishing 
smack,  to  be  used  to  start  the  mission:  the  fish  taken 
would  cover  expenses  and  the  Ensign  was  within  three 
weeks  ready  for  sea.  A  small  cabin  was  partitioned  off  in 
the  hold  for  the  misisonaries'  quarters;  grants  of  Bibles 
and  other  books,  woollen  mufflers  and  mittens,  and  a 
ship's  medicine  chest,  were  supplied  without  charge,  and 
a  Christian  skipper  put  in  charge;  and  on  that  unlucky 
day,  "  Friday,"  was  launched  "  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able social  revolutions  of  modern  times."  The  Ensign  shook 
out  her  twenty-foot  mission  flag  to  the  breeze — some 
shouting  in  derision  and  others  bidding  it  godspeed;  but 
amid  the  jeering  and  the  cheering,  away  she  sailed,  four 
months  later  to  run  in  between  the  piers,  amid  the  welcome 
that  even  foes  are  glad  to  join  in  when  "  success  " — that 
great  vindicator  of  all  enterprises — puts  her  crown  on  a 
new  scheme. 

The  history  of  the  Nor'ard  mission  has  its  funny  fea- 
tures, as  when  one  smacksman,  having  a  bottle,  labelled 
"  for  external  use  only,"  not  knowing  what  "  external " 
meant,  poured  it  down  the  throat  of  a  poor  fellow  who 


WORK  AMONG  DEEP  SEA  FISHERMEN  335 

had  a  "  powerful  "  attack  of  bronchitis.  But  the  fun  is 
the  exception.  Think  of  a  man  trying  to  work  in  a  tre- 
mendous storm  with  a  bad  attack  of  measles;  of  another, 
scalped  by  a  piece  of  spar  and  the  frost  so  intense  that  the 
wound  stopped  bleeding  because  the  blood  turned  to  ice 
before  he  could  be  carried  below  deck ;  think  of  salt  water 
irritating  cuts  and  wounds;  of  a  broken  leg,  getting  stiff 
before  any  doctor  could  be  got  to  set  it.  That  first  mission 
ship  encountered  a  gale  of  derision  when  she  came  near 
to  the  fleet  and  her  mission  was  known ;  but  again  prayer 
was  her  armor  and  artillery:  and  the  first  who  ridiculed 
was  the  first  who  learned  to  pray.  The  meetings  began, 
and  the  total  abstinence  pledge  was  signed  by  a  few,  and 
the  loving  message  of  the  Gospel  was  heard,  and  there 
was  nothing  to  pay  for  medicine  or  the  balm  of  Gilead. 
No  man  came  to  get  healing  or  nursing  who  did  not 
hear  of  the  Great  Physician.  In  one  morning  and  within 
a  few  minutes,  ten  boats  boarded  the  Ensign  for  medical 
and  surgical  aid,  and  lips,  unaccustomed  to  such  words, 
invoked  "  blessings  on  this  'ere  vessel."  From  the  first 
voyage,  victory  was  assured.  God  and  man  had  both  set 
seal  of  approbation  on  the  deep  sea  mission.  Ship  owners 
offered  their  congratulations  and  donations;  families 
ashore  joined  in  praise  for  the  saving  of  life  and  health  and 
time  and  wages ;  and  one  smackowner  who  had  little  care 
for  the  souls  of  men,  gave  his  guineas  yearly  to  a  work 
that  kept  the  men  from  bartering  his  nets  to  the  coper  for 
brandy! — conversion  valued  from  a  business  point  of  view. 
Some  conversions  meant  a  different  attitude  for  a  whole 
vessel  and  its  crew,  as  when  the  "creagan"  would  no  more 
be  hoisted  as  a  signal  to  the  coper,  and  the  patronage  of  a 
whole  ship's  company  was  lost  to  the  foreign  grogshop. 

Every  day  the  mission  vessel  had  a  "  service ;  "  and  the 
worst  and  wildest  men  were  often  the  first  to  be  reached. 
On  one  lovely  summer's  day,  ten  vessels  were  lashed  side 


336  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

by  side,  the  mission  ship  in  the  center ;  fifty-two  men  and 
boys  were  in  one  group  on  the  deck  and  there  was  an  eight 
hour  service,  which  concluded  only  when  the  clock  struck 
eleven  p.  M. !  and  even  then  an  inquiry  meeting  followed 
till  1 :30  A.  M. !  Three  skippers  and  a  cabin  boy  had  found 
their  way  to  a  life  of  temperance  and  of  piety.  No  wonder 
if  an  Ostend  skipper  as  long  ago  as  1884  said :  "  Those 
cursed  mission  ships  are  ruining  our  trade,  and  if  many 
more  of  them  come  there'll  soon  be  no  copers! " 

In  the  spring  of  1883,  ^^^  fearful  storm,  "  the  great 
March  gale,"  sacrificed  over  360  men  and  boys.  The  dan- 
gers which  these  northern  fishermen  meet  are  many  and 
grave.  ''  We  lose  on  an  average  thirty-five  yearly  in 
boarding  fish,  or  transferring  the  heavy  trunks  of  fish 
from  small  boats  to  the  vessels,"  said  the  owner  of  one 
large  fleet.  The  lives  of  men  might  be  saved,  but  they 
think  it  cowardly  to  wear  life  belts,  and  this  introduction 
of  life  jackets  as  a  condition  of  small-boat  work  was  one  of 
the  first  reforms.  At  the  best  this  is  hard  work.  The 
trunks  have  hand  holes  at  each  end,  and  it  needs  a  strong 
lift  and  a  heavy  heave  to  land  them  on  the  rail  of  the  car- 
rier and  to  time  the  movement  to  the  swing  of  the  waves. 
If  the  man  that  heaves,  or  the  man  that  is  to  catch,  is  an  in- 
stant too  slow,  overboard  goes  the  trunk,  if  not  the  heaver 
or  the  catcher,  and  accidents  are  constant  and  well  nigh 
inevitable ;  and  when  injured,  the  poor  fellows,  three  hun- 
dred miles  from  all  medical  anS  surgical  help,  had  to  toss 
about  for  days  before  proper  treatment  could  be  had  at  the 
London  hospital.  It  seemed,  at  first,  impracticable  to  have 
a  doctor  in  the  fleet,  and  even  if  there  were  one,  one  day's 
round  of  visits  through  the  small  boats  would  be  enough 
to  wear  him  out. 

Mr.  Mather  saw  that  dispensary  work  at  least  must  be 
done  on  the  fleet,  and  this  was  the  next  item  that  entered 
into  his  plans. 


WORK  AMONG  DEEP  SEA  FISHERMEN  337 

It  is  really  beautiful  toiind  beneath  the  roughest,  coarsest 
exterior,  the  signs  of  the  soft  heart.  And  the  smacksmen, 
with  all  their  wrong-doing  often  manifest  toward  a  fel- 
low-tar in  his  distress,  a  tenderness  and  generosity  that 
prove  the  survival  of  humanity  within  them,  as  when 
poverty  and  bereavement  strike  the  fisher's  home  circle,  or 
there  is  permanent  disablement  through  injury.  When  one 
of  them  sees  others  in  peril  he  becomes  oblivious  of  per- 
sonal risk  and  plunges  into  the  work  of  rescue.  But  when 
these  fellows  find  Christ,  they  find  also  their  own  true 
self  with  its  latent  possibilities,  that  has  been  hid- 
den beneath  the  wickedness  of  a  godless  life.  How  manly 
and  courageous  and  unselfish  they  often  become!  Lord 
Northbrook  found  in  the  North  Sea  trawling  fleet  such  a 
recruiting  ground  for  the  Royal  navy  that  4,000  smacks- 
men  were  at  one  time  enrolled  in  the  naval  reserve.  But 
how  many  faithful  followers  has  He  enrolled  who  found 
in  Galilean  fishermen  apostles  that  left  boats  and  nets  and 
all  behind  and  went  to  fishing  for  men. 

When,  in  1882,  the  Ensign  was  rigged  out  as  a  mission 
vessel,  it  was  found  that  she  maintained  herself  by  trawl- 
ing. This  emboldened  the  leaders  of  this  mission  to  secure 
three  more  vessels,  the  whole  being  the  property  of  men 
who  invested  in  the  matter  as  a  Christian  business  enter- 
prise, appointing  Mr.  Mather  managing  owner,  and  lend- 
ing the  vessels  for  the  purposes  of  the  mission,  looking  to 
the  profit  of  fishing  for  a  reasonable  interest  on  their  outlay. 
But  the  decline  of  the  fishing  trade  caused  a  change  of 
plans,  and  led  to  the  purchase  of  these  three  additional 
vessels,  for  the  mission,  and  not  long  after  the  Ensign  like- 
wise was  bought  and  renamed  the  Thomas  Gray  in  recog- 
nition of  many  acts  of  kindness  from  the  head  of  the  main 
department  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  In  answer  to  prayer 
for  additional  ships,  a  letter  from  the  Duchess  of  Grafton 
brought  another  gift  of  2,150  for  a  new  mission  ship,  to 


33B  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

be  named  the  Eustin  and  this  gift  opened  a  new  era  in  the 
matter  of  the  mission  ships — as  it  proved  that  of  the  Lord 
directly  might  be  obtained  vessels  for  His  work  without 
the  worry  of  caring  for  property,  lent  by  business  men  as 
a  commercial  venture ;  and  it  became  more  and  more  evi- 
dent that  the  command  to  "  go  into  all  the  world  "  meant 
the  world  of  waters,  too,  and  the  promise  "  Lo  I  am  with 
you  alway,"  covered  the  trackless  highways  of  sea  as 
well  as  of  land. 

The  fisherman  seems  to  find  in  his  pipe  a  necessity,  and 
even  the  Christian  sailors  felt  tobacco  to  be  an  essential, 
not  only  to  comfort  but  to  warmth  and  endurance.  But 
if  tobacco  was  to  be  supplied  it  must  be  through  some 
agency  that  would  rid  the  fleet  of  the  standing  menace  of 
the  coper.  Some  felt  it  to  be  a  mistake,  but  the  mission 
conductor  undertook  to  remove  out  of  the  way  temptation 
to  visit  the  copers,  by  supplying  cheap  tobacco  to  those 
who  felt  it  a  sine  qua  non.  After  a  careful  and  we  doubt 
not  a  prayerful  consideration  of  the  whole  matter,  it  was 
determined  to  make  this  effort  to  neutralize  the  traffic  of 
the  floating  grogshops,  and  such  was  the  actual  result,  so 
that  the  copers'  business  was  not  "  regulated  but  relegated 
to  their  native  shores."  The  government  at  last  allowed 
tobacco  to  be  sold  in  the  fleet,  free  of  customs  duty,  thus 
facilitating  the  work  of  antagonizing  the  copers. 

The  good  wrought  by  this  mission  to  the  deep-sea  fisher- 
men no  statistical  column  could  exhibit.  One  vessel  that 
left  Hull  without  two  men  aboard  that  feared  God,  re- 
turned with  all  but  five  rejoicing  in  Him. 

The  work  among  the  fishermen  became  known,  and 
every  summer  witnessed  volunteer  missionaries  electing  to 
pass  their  vacation  among  the  trawlers:  and  with  con- 
stantly increasing  interest  and  enlarging  success.  The  re- 
turns for  such  work  proved  comparatively  quick,  obvious 
and  abundant,  more  fruitful  than  work  on  shore.    Eleven 


WORK  AMONG  DEEP  SEA  FISHERMEN  339 

clergymen  were  afloat  in  the  mission  ships  in  1886,  twelve 
in  1889,  and  in  one  case  the  evangelistic  efforts  proved  so 
blessed  that  seventeen  out  of  nineteen  skippers  who  had 
attended  the  valedictory  prayer-meeting  when  the  mis- 
sion smack  was  leaving  for  port,  had  learned  to  trust  in 
the  Lord  Jesus   on  board  the  "  Bethelship." 

It  IS  now  thirteen  years  since  the  mission  to  deep-sea 
fishermen  was  duly  recognized,  registered  and  certified 
by  the  Board  of  Trade,  with  a  council  of  fifteen  members 
and  various  subcommittees.  The  work  still  goes  on,  and 
the  copers  find  their  office  gone  and  the  amount  of  their 
trade  not  worth  the  expenditure. 

Note. — Mr.  Mortimer  Sladen  of  Windermere,  England,  has 
lately  given  a  Pioneer  Hospital  Steam  Trawler  to  the  Deep  Sea 
Fishermen.  It  is  a  superb  vessel,  154  feet  long,  by  22  feet  broad. 
Its  tonnage  over  93  tons,  and  its  total  value,  with  fittings  and  fur- 
nishings, is  nearly  $100,000.  Her  name  is  Alpha,  and  her  speed 
over  II  knots.  She  is  fitted  with  four  water-tight  bulkheads,  and 
a  collision  bulkhead  in  addition,  at  each  end.  Mr.  Sladen  has  left 
nothing  undone  to  make  his  splendid  gift  as  perfect  as  possible. 

The  hospital  is  supplied  with  a  hot  water  heating  installation, 
ventilation  and  sanitation  provisions,  swing  cots  for  fracture  cases, 
the  best  surgical  appliances,  including  a  Rontgen  Ray  apparatus, 
etc. 

At  the  same  time  more  than  fifty  other  unique  features  contrib- 
ute to  the  completeness  of  this  as  a  mission  ship,  also — bookcase, 
library,  harmonium,  electric  lights,  communicating  cabins  and  sa- 
loons that  can  be  used  for  public  services — whatever  could  help  to 
make  this  more  adapted  for  its  various  service,  Mr.  Sladen's  fer- 
tility of  resources,  and  generosity  of  heart  have  assured. 

We  have  the  pleasure  of  knowing  the  donor,  who  himself,  with 
his  brother  Alfred,  has  designed  their  own  steam  launches,  and  so 
has  a  special  fitness  for  the  planning  of  such  a  ship  for  the  deep 
sea  work. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

MISSION  WORK  AMONG  LEPERS 

When  Spirit-moved  men  and  women  undertake  mission 
work  among  lepers,  they  reach  and  touch  the  lowest  depths 
of  human  degradation,  wretchedness,  and  hopeless  misery. 

Of  all  human  maladies,  leprosy  is  the  one,  unique,  soli- 
tary disease,  that  has  borne,  throughout  all  time,  the  brand 
of  peculiar  curse,  as  "  the  scourge  of  God."  Technically, 
it  is  a  chronic  skin  disease,  whose  main  characteristics  are 
two:  ulcerous  eruptions,  and  successive  desquamations  of 
dead  skin.  The  name  is  now  usually  restricted  to  elephan- 
tiasis. It  is  clearly  hereditary,  and  overwhelming  facts  seem 
to  show  that  under  some  circumstances  it  is  contagious; 
that,  at  least,  where  there  is  habitual  contact  and  associa- 
tion, as  between  parents  and  children,  it  is  communicated, 
whereas  separation  prevents  its  development  even  where 
there  is  a  leprous  parentage.* 

A  leper  is  a  walking  parable  of  guilt  and  death.  To  the 
Jew  especially,  leprosy  w^as  the  sign  and  seal  of  sin,  already 
bearing  its  visible  judgment.  A  leper  was  unclean,  and  he 
was  obliged  to  proclaim  his  own  uncleanness.  His  touch 
was  defilement,  his  garments  were  spotted  by  the  flesh, 
and  he  lived  apart  from  others,  and  could  not  even  come 


*  There  are  believed  to  be  500,000  lepers  in  India,  100,000  in  China,  as  many 
more  in  Japan,  1,200  in  the  Hawaiian  Isles,  27,000  in  Colombia,  South  America, 
500  in  the  United  States,  as  many  more  in  Cuba,  2,000  in  Norway,  etc.  Isola- 
tion is  the  only  known  means  of  eradication.  There  is  a  Rowing  sentiment 
in  favor  also  of  the  separation  of  the  sexes,  that  there  may  be  no  propagation 
of  offspring  that  have  predisposition  to  the  taint  of  this  horrible  disease. 
It  seems  as  tho  no  measures  were  too  drastic  to  stamp  out  this  malady. 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  LEPERS        341 

near  to  the  altar  where  sin  was  expiated  by  blood.  Miriam, 
tho  the  sister  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  was  shut  out  of  the 
camp  when  the  leprous  brand  appeared  on  her  brow,  and 
King  Uzziah  was  shut  out  from  his  palace,  and  "  lived  in 
a  separate  house  until  the  day  of  his  death."  Trench,  in 
one  awful  sentence,  sums  up  the  matter :  "  Leprosy  is  noth- 
ing short  of  a  living  death,  a  poisoning  of  the  springs,  a 
corrupting  of  all  the  humors  of  life ;  a  dissolution  little  by 
little  of  the  whole  body."  No  language  can  describe  the 
horror  and  terror  inspired  by  the  sight  of  a  crowd  of  abject 
leprous  beggars,  as  they  are  seen  thronging  the  Jaffa  gate 
of  the  sacred  city,  and  reaching  out  the  stumps  of  handless 
arms,  their  faces  ghastly,  with  sockets  from  which  the  eyes 
have  dropped  out,  perhaps  without  ears,  and  their  bodies  in 
every  state  and  stage  of  actual  physical  defect.  The  leper 
is  the  slow,  sure  victim  of  a  death  that  kills  one  member  at 
a  time,  and  severs  it  from  the  body,  like  a  dead  limb  that 
drops  off  from  a  tree  by  its  own  rottenness.  Dante,  in  his 
visits  to  the  Inferno,  never  beheld  any  sight  that  so  sug- 
gests the  awful  curse  that  follows  sin  to  the  third  and 
fourth  generation,  if  not  the  fortieth,  or  compares  with 
this  in  indescribable  repulsiveness.  Surely  it  is  no  acci- 
dent that,  in  that  eighth  chapter  of  Matthew — Scriptura 
Miraculosa,  as  Ambrose  called  it — the  first  recorded  mir- 
acle is  one  in  which  the  great  Healer  not  only  made  the 
leper  clean,  but  by  touching  him,  thus  identifying  himself 
with  his  uncleanness  and  becoming  ceremonially  himself 
a  leper!  No  wonder  Isaiah,  foreseeing  His  glory  and 
speaking  of  Him  declares,  "  Himself  took  our  infirmities 
and  hare  our  sicknesses." 

We  can  not  appreciate  the  Christlike  self-sacrifice  and 
passion  for  souls  that  must  have  moved  holy  men  and 
women  to  approach  a  leprous  community,  and  even  be- 
come permanently  identified  with  their  relief  and  salvation, 
unless  we  first  get  a  true  glimpse  of  the  actual  condition  in 


342  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

which  lepers  were  found.  And  here  again  words  fail. 
There  are  no  terms  quite  equal  to  the  description.  For 
example,  when  Miss  Kate  Marsden  went  on  her  mission 
of  charity  to  Viliusk,  in  Siberia,  the  frightful  state  of  the 
lepers  in  the  province  was  found  to  be  worse  even  than  as 
set  forth  in  the  report  of  the  medical  inspector.  They  were 
found  driven  into  exile  in  vast  forests,  almost  nude,  and 
closely  packed  in  dirty  yourtas.  So  great  is  the  dread  of 
this  disease  that  people  suffering  from  other  ailments  are 
often  exiled  with  the  lepers  and  forced  to  abide  with  them, 
through  mistakes  of  the  natives  when  defining  leprosy; 
and  awful  brutality  is  practised,  under  plea  of  banishing  a 
leper  from  society,  where  greed  is  the  motive — some  small 
fortune  left  by  a  relative  being  thus  seized  by  the  persecu- 
tors, a  leper  being  treated  as  one  civilly  dead,  and  having 
no  right  to  property.  A  supposed  child-leper  was  starved 
to  death,  for  the  sake  of  a  few  cows  left  him  by  his  parents. 
An  uncle,  whose  ward  he  was^  first  murdered  his  sister, 
and  then  persuading  his  neighbors  that  the  boy  was  a  leper, 
drove  him  into  a  forest  in  the  depths  of  a  Siberian  winter, 
and  there,  with  no  shelter  but  a  sort  of  kennel,  a  few  sticks 
lightly  covered  with  cow  dung  and  snow,  starved,  half- 
frozen,  and  on  the  verge  of  madness,  the  boy  was  left  to 
die.  When  found  the  body  was  but  skin  and  bones,  with 
a  little  clay  in  the  stomach  which  had  been  devoured  in 
the  pangs  of  hunger,  and  there  was  not  a  sign  of  leprosy 
or  any  other  disease! 

The  crowding  together  of  these  outcasts  in  the  same 
filthy  yourta,  makes  physical  cleanliness  and  moral  purity 
alike  impossible.  The  yourta  or  yurt,  is  often  only  a  pen 
in  which  human  beings  and  cattle  herd  together,  men, 
women,  and  children,  all  alike.  It  is  made  of  logs,  cov- 
ered with  earth  and  moss,  and  partly  sunk  in  the  ground, 
one  of  the  most  primitive  human  habitations,  and  having 
none  of  the  qualities  of  a  comfortable  or  decent  dwelling. 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  LEPERS        343 

Miss  Marsden  found  the  Siberian  lepers  clad  in  cast-oif 
garments  of  the  Yakuts  (members  of  the  Turkish  race,  of 
the  basin  of  the  Lena,  E.  Siberia),  these  garments  being 
generally  fur-skins  filled  with  vermin,  filthy  beyond  words, 
and  at  best  a  mass  of  tatters. 

The  leper  is  so  accustomed  to  being  avoided  and 
shunned  that,  even  when  approached  by  the  messengers 
of  love  and  pity,  he  shrinks  as  in  terror,  or  as  tho  some 
violence  or  insult  were  intended.  He  feels  himself  an  out- 
cast, doomed  to  be  an  exile  from  all  clean  society.  One 
visit  to  the  vile  and  small  huts  where  lepers  dwell  is 
enough  to  fix  itself  forever  on  the  mind  of  the  visitor. 
There  is  almost  no  light,  a  door  so  low  that  one  can  not 
enter  without  bowing,  and  the  air,  which  even  the  fire  can 
not  purify,  foul  to  suffocation  with  the  leprous  exhalations 
and  the  odors  of  rotten  fish  that  are  their  chief  dieL 
No  beds  or  linen,  but  benches,  and  no  robes  but  rags, 
and  all  this  for  years  at  a  time.  In  a  small  hovel,  six  men 
and  three  women  were  often  found  huddled  together.  Of 
course,  such  abodes  are  absolutely  without  sanitary  pro- 
visions and  swarm  with  vermin,  and  often  the  only  places 
to  sleep  are  rude  trunks  of  trees  covered  with  planks,  on 
which  these  outcasts  lie,  packed  together,  the  head  of  one 
opposite  the  feet  of  the  next.  And  in  such  abodes  they  eat, 
cook,  sleep,  live,  and  die.  It  is  customary  for  a  dead  body 
to  be  kept  in  the  hovel  for  three  days,  and  in  a  visitation 
of  smallpox,  four  dead  bodies  were  thus  kept  during  such 
time  in  the  same  room  with  the  living ! 

Mr.  Guilford  gives  a  similar  account*  of  his  own  visit 
to  the  leper  asylum  at  Tarn  Taran  (India)  with  its  234 
wretched  inmates.  There  he  met  a  surging  crowd  of  de- 
formed, mutilated  human  beings,  in  whom  all  the  dire  ef- 
fects of  sin  ever  wrought  on  the  human  frame  seemed  pre- 
sented in  one  mass  before  his  eyes.     To  stay  long  in  such 


♦  "  The  Lepers  in  Our  Indian  Empire."    W.  C.  Bailey. 


344  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

a  scene  was  impossible,  but  he  said  that  until  death  the 
sight  would  haunt  him.    It  was  a  living  charnel  house. 

Various  efforts  have  been  made  in  behalf  of  the  lepers, 
in  which  we  are  not  surprised  again  to  find  the  Moravians 
leading.  Always  ready  to  dare  the  worst  climates  and 
the  most  hopeless  conditions,  before  the  first  quarter  of 
the  century  had  passed,  in  1822,  they  began  work  at  Himel 
en  Aarde  (Heaven  and  Earth),  in  South  Africa.  Four 
years  before,  the  colonial  government,  fearing  the  spread 
of  leprosy,  had  built  a  temporary  asylum  in  this  valley, 
whose  weird  name  suggests  its  isolation,  far  from  human 
abodes,  and  so  hemmed  in  by  rocks  as  to  be  opened  only 
to  the  sky.  The  hospital  having  been  enlarged,  Governor 
Somerset  sought  for  a  Moravian  to  manage  the  institution 
and  to  teach  the  inmates  Christian  truth.  Rev.  Mr.  Leit- 
ner  and  wife  took  up  this  work,  and  supposing  it  to  involve 
risk  of  contagion,  they  entered  this  asylum,  thenceforth  to 
be  themselves  virtually  ranked  as  lepers. 

The  transformations  were  marvelous.  Industry  and 
intelligence  and  cleanliness  proved  to  be  the  handmaids 
of  piety,  and  neat  gardens  surrounded  the  hospital,  and  an 
aqueduct  was  built  to  supply  water.  During  six  years 
Mr.  Leitner  baptized  95  adults,  and  on  Easter-day,  1829, 
while  baptizing  a  convert,  he  suddenly  passed  to  his  re- 
ward. For  ten  years  more  the  Moravians  were  in  charge ; 
and  in  1846  the  hospital  was  enlarged,  improved,  and  re- 
moved to  Robben  Island,  near  Cape  Town.  The  duties 
of  the  missionaries  were  henceforth  restricted  to  the  educa- 
tional and  spiritual,  government  officials  being  in  general 
charge.  A  school  was  begun,  whose  first  teacher  was  a 
young  Englishman,  John  Taylor,  who  after  five  years 
of  earnest  work  died  in  1866.  The  Moravians  con- 
tinued identified  with  this  hospital  at  Robben  Island  until 
1867,  when  a  chaplain  of  the  Church  of  England  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  religious  oversight  of  the  institution. 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  LEPERS        345 

The  Moravians  have  been  similarly  connected  with  the 
leper  Home  at  Jerusalem,  erected  outside  the  Jaffa  gate, 
and  which  owed  its  suggestion  to  Baron  Von  Keffen- 
brinck-Ascheraden's  visit  to  the  Holy  Land.  He  and  his 
wife  saw  these  wretched  outcasts,  dependent  on  the  alms 
of  passers-by,  lodging  amid  abject  poverty,  and  dying  in 
unsoothed  agony.  And  again,  when  a  small  home  was 
provided,  the  United  Brethren  gave  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F. 
Tappe  to  become  father  and  mother  to  the  loathsome  and 
incurable  lepers.  This  asylum,  opened  in  1867,  was  en- 
larged in  1875  and  1877,  ^^^  ^  "^^  ^^^  larger  building 
erected  on  a  new  site  in  1887,  at  cost  of  $20,000.  In  1884 
Mr.  Tappe's  health  having  compelled  his  retirement,  Fritz 
Muller  and  wife  took  charge.  Out  of  about  twenty  Mo- 
ravians who  gave  themselves  to  this  sacred  ministry  not 
one  has  taken  the  disease.  The  leper-home  at  Jerusalem 
has  issued  its  twenty-ninth  report.  Since  1891  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Schubert  have  been  in  charge.  The  year  1896  began 
with  19  patients,  ten  of  them  being  men  and  nine  women; 
and  during  the  year,  fifteen  more  were  admitted,  and  one 
died.  Diligent  study  and  effort  are  now  directed  to  the 
medical  treatment  of  leprosy. 

We  can  not  within  such  limited  space  give  the  complete 
history  of  missions  to  lepers;  but,  in  this  great  work, 
Wellesley  C.  Bailey,  of  Edinburgh,  the  well-known  secre- 
tary of  the  Mission  to  Lepers  in  India,  must  have  a  con- 
spicuous mention.  It  is  now  twenty-six  years  since,  re- 
turning from  mission  work  in  India,  he  told  Dublin 
friends  of  his  efforts  to  help  and  save  lepers.  His  tracts 
on  the  subject,  half  a  million  of  which  were  circulated, 
united  with  his  personal  appeals,  kindled  such  interest, 
that  in  1878  a  committee  was  formed  in  Dublin,  and  the 
work  reorganized  and  enlarged,  nine  years  later.  No  one 
who  has  been  at  all  familiar  with  this  grand  work  needs 
to  be  told  that  from  1875  onward,  in  Chamba,  in  the 


346  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Sabathu  asylum  at  Ambala,  in  the  Punjab,  in  Almora,  at 
Dehra,  at  Calcutta,  at  Lohardugga,  and  Purulia,  Chota 
Nagpore,  at  Travancore,  at  Rurki,  at  Pithora,  at  Allaha- 
bad, at  Rawal  Pindi,  at  Madras,  in  Neyoor,  etc.,  etc.,  this 
society  has  either  built  or  aided  asylums.  About  twelve 
years  ago  the  work  of  separating  untainted  children  from 
their  parents  was  begun,  and  retreats  were  provided  for 
such  children  at  Almora,  Pithora,  Lohardugga,  Purulia, 
etc.  The  aim  of  this  organization  is  twofold,  philan- 
thropic and  evangelistic,  its  supreme  aim  being  not  only  to 
better  the  temporal  condition  of  the  lepers  but  to  save  their 
souls. 

One  of  the  most  humane  results  of  the  mission  to  the 
lepers,  has  been  the  separation  of  children,  born  of  leper 
parents,  from  their  original  surroundings.  Most  medical 
men  are  now  agreed  that  the  disease  is  undoubtedly  con- 
tagious,* and  that  the  worst  condition  of  such  contagion 
is  where  children  continue  to  live  in  the  leprous  homes 
where  they  were  born.  Before  reaching  majority  it  has 
been  found  that  the  great  bulk  of  such  offspring  develop 
the  loathsome  disease,  so  that  of  all  who  were  born  in  the 


♦  This  seems  to  be  a  good  point  at  which  to  refer  to  the  recent  Leprosy- 
Conference  at  Berlin.  It  was  called  by  the  foremost  Leprologists  in  the 
world,  and  the  following  conclusions  were  reached  : 

1.  The  disease  is  communicated  by  the  bacillus,  but  its  condition  of  life 
and  methods  of  penetrating  the  human  organism  are  unknown.  Probably  it 
gains  entrance  through  the  mouth  or  mucous  membranes. 

2.  It  is  certain  that  mankind  alone  is  liable  to  the  bacillus. 

3.  Leprosy  is  contagious  but  not  hereditary. 

4.  The  disease  has  hitherto  resisted  all  efforts  to  cure  it. 

Observe,  that  in  affirming  the  contagiousness  of  the  disease,  it  is  probably 
meant  that  it  is  contagious  by  some  form  of  inoculation  only,  such  as  re- 
ceiving into  a  cut  or  abraded  surface  some  particle  from  a  sore  or  ulcer  of  a 
leper.  We  must  not  confuse  coniag'ton  and  infection^  Medical  missionaries 
and  others  freely  handle  lepers  and  dress  their  wounds,  yet  no  one  has  ever 
been  known  to  contract  the  disease.  Children  of  lepers  probably  have  a 
hereditary  predisposition  to  the  disease,  and  if  left  to  live  in  the  same  huts, 
sleep  in  the  same  beds,  and  eat  out  of  the  same  vessels,  run  great  risk. 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  LEPERS        347 

asylum  at  Tarn  Taran,  during  thirty  years,  and  who  were 
left  there,  only  two  did  not  become  confirmed  lepers.  At 
Almora,  however,  for  years  past  children  have  been  sepa- 
rated from  their  parents,  and  only  one  child  has  shown 
signs  of  leprosy,  *  proving  how  much  can  be  done  to  stop 
the  spread  of  this  scourge.  No  wonder  Mr.  Guilford  pro- 
nounced it  the  saddest  of  sights  to  see  a  bright,  innocent, 
untainted  child  fondled  by  a  leper  mother,  and  fed  from 
hands  that  are  a  mass  of  corruption ;  and  yet  in  India  thou- 
sands of  sights  like  this  may  be  seen  daily. 

Can  the  souls  of  such  wretched  outcasts  be  reached? 
Let  Mr.  Guilford  again  testify,  f  At  one  time  the  asy- 
lum at  Tarn  Taran  was  in  charge  of  a  native  doctor, 
whose  hatred  of  Christianity  was  proverbial,  and  when 
some  converted  lepers  sought  a  home  in  the  asylum,  in  a 
rage  he  drove  them  away  until  they  should  renounce  their 
faith.  Hear  their  answer :  "  If  you  refuse  us  admission 
unless  we  deny  our  Lord  and  Master,  we  are  content  to 
go  and  sit  on  the  highway  and  die."  And  there  they  sat 
for  eight  long  days,  with  no  shield  from  the  intense  sun 
save  the  trees,  and  with  scarce  a  morsel  of  food,  and  this 
inhuman  native  doctor  would  not  even  allow  the  asylum 
shop  to  sell  them  food!  In  the  asylum  at  Purulia,  Mr. 
Bailey  met  a  bright,  happy  audience  of  lepers,  where  only 
five  out  of  116  were  even  nominally  heathen,  and  nineteen 
came  forward  for  baptism  in  one  service.  What  a  sight  to 
see  these  lepers  bowing  at  the  communion  of  the  Lord's 
supper,  where  the  bread  had  to  be  dropped  into  their 
hands,  or  put  into  their  mouths  because  they  had  no 
hands,  and  the  *  cup  '  served  to  them  by  a  spoon !  " 

Without  the  Camp  states  that  the  Mission  to  Lepers 
in  India  and  the  East  works  in  connection  with  18  so- 


*  "  The  Lepers  in  Our  Indian  Empire."  Bailey,  p.  107. 
t  fdfd.  Bailey,  p.  103. 


348  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

cieties  or  denominations  and  40  stations  in  India,  Burma 
and  Ceylon,  and  7  in  China  and  Japan.  Of  asylums  and 
hospitals  of  their  own  they  have  14  in  India  and  Burma; 
5  in  China  and  Japan;  with  14  homes  for  untainted  chil- 
dren; they  aid  11  other  institutions  and  have  15  places 
open  to  them  for  Christian  instruction.  In  all,  2,700  per- 
sons receive  help. 

Were  the  history  of  missions  to  the  lepers  fully  written, 
it  would  supply  some  of  the  most  pathetic  tales  of  heroism 
ever  recorded  even  in  missionary  history.  We  all  remem- 
ber the  interest  which  centered  about  "  Father  Damien's  " 
work  among  the  lepers  on  the  island  of  Molokai.  Tho 
there  was  thought  to  be  some  false  glamor  or  halo  about 
this  man,  especially  after  his  death,  the  Prince  of  Wales 
presided  over  the  committee  formed  to  raise  a  monument 
to  this  departed  worker,  to  establish  leper  wards  in  hos- 
pitals, and  to  send  out  physicians  to  cope  with  the  terrible 
evil  and  study  its  cure  or  relief. 

Leprosy  was  brought  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  by  a  trav- 
eler from  Asia  early  in  this  century,  and  spread  so  fast 
that  the  government,  in  1865,  decreed  the  banishment  of 
every  tainted  man,  woman,  and  child  to  the  island  of 
Molokai,  and  in  thirty  years  more  than  3,000  have  thus 
been  exiled  to  await  death  in  this  lonely  seagirt  home. 
When,  in  1873,  Father  Damien  went  there  he  found  these 
lepers  given  over  to  every  form  of  sloth,  lawlessness,  and 
vice.  Before  his  death  he  saw  very  great  improvement, 
and  aroused  not  only  the  Hawaiian  government  to  a  sense 
of  shame  and  duty,  but  awakened  all  civilized  peoples  to 
active  sympathy  for  these  outcasts.  His  own  hands 
became  so  crippled  by  the  disease  that  at  the  last  he  could 
only  sign  letters  that  he  could  no  more  write.  Father 
Damien  was  wont  to  speak  to  the  unhappy  inmates  of  the 
island  as  "  we  lepers ;  "  and  when  he  took  the  disease,  he 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  LEPERS        349 

told  them  it  was  God's  way  of  bringing  him  and  them 
closer  together.  Through  his  work  miserable  huts  were 
exchanged  for  clean  cabins;  there  is  a  hospital,  costing 
$10,000,  with  skilled  physicians.'* 

Those  who  have  read  the  heroic  story  of  Miss  Mary 
Reed,  will  not  need  to  be  reminded  of  its  indescribable 
pathos.  She  is  an  American  missionary  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  India,  and,  her  health  giving  way, 
she  came  home,  but  for  a  year  had  no  suspicion  of  the  real 
nature  of  her  illness,  which  baffled  all  the  science  and  art 
of  medicine.  God  himself,  in  midnight  vision,  revealed 
to  her  that  it  was  leprosy,  and  made  plain  to  her  that  she 
was  henceforth  to  be  a  messenger  of  mercy  to  a  leper  com- 
munity in  the  mountains  of  India.  A  specialist  subse- 
quently confirmed  the  impression  of  the  vision,  and  all  her 
suspense  was  over.  To  lessen  the  pain  of  parting,  she  left 
her  father,  mother,  brothers,  and  sisters  without  revealing 
her  secret,  save  to  one  sister,  and  on  her  way  wrote  home 
the  terrible  news.  Then  she  went  on  to  Pithora,  in  the 
Himalayas,  and  has  been  finding  in  those  mountain  heights 
— what  they  mean — "  heavenly  halls."  Here  is  a  refined, 
cultured  young  woman,  smitten  with  this  awful  malady, 
exiling  herself  for  the  sake  of  these  outcasts.  She  went 
among  them,  and,  with  hot  tears,  said,  but  without  a 
tremor  in  her  voice,  and  with  a  heavenborn  smile:  "I 
am  now  one  of  you."  There  on  the  heavenly  heights  of 
Chandag,  6,000  feet  above  the  sea,  she  is  pointing  outcast 
lepers  to  the  Friend  of  outcasts,  and  her  heart  finds  joy 
never  known  before  in  her  Christlike  work.  She  may  be 
found  daily  binding  up  with  her  own  hands  the  wounds 
and  sores  of  lepers,  while  she  pours  the  oil  of  God's  con- 
solation into  their  souls.     She  was  found  with  73  inmates 


*  An  interesting  description  of  this  settlement  is  found  in  Jno.  R.  Musick's 
Hawaii:  Our  New  Possessions."    Funk  &  Wagnalls  Co. 


350  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

in  the  asylum,  and  500  within  ten  miles  radius,  whom  she 
aims  to  get  under  the  same  blessed  shelter.* 


*  Those  who  would  read  more  fully  on  this  terrible  yet  fascinating  theme, 
may  find  in  the  following  books  more  ample  information  :  "  The  Lepers  in 
Our  Indian  Empire,"  "  Mission  to  Lepers  in  India  and  the  East,"  and  "  A 
Glimpse  at  the  Indian  Mission-Field  and  Leper  Asylums,"  etc.  W.  C.  Bailey. 
John  F.  Shaw,  London.  "  On  Sledge  and  Horseback  to  Outcast  Siberian 
Lepers."  Kate  Marsden.  Cassell  Pub.  Co.  "The  Story  of  the  Mission  to 
Lepers  in  India."  H.  S.  Carson,  London.  "  European  Lepers  in  India."  Miss 
Lila  Watt.  "Without  the  Camp."  Magazine,  Lombard  Street,  Toronto, 
Canada,  and  Edinburgh,  Scotland.  "Encyclopedia  of  Missions."  Funk  & 
Wagnalls  Co.    "  Picket  Line  of  Missions."    Eaton  &  Mains,  New  York. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

RESCUE   MISSIONS 

This  name  has  come  to  stand  for  organized  effort  to 
reach  and  save  those  most  desperately  lost — lost  not  to 
God  only  but  to  man ;  sunk  to  the  lowest  level,  and  beyond 
the  ordinary  touch  of  Christian  benevolence  and  benefi- 
cence. They  do  not  go  to  church,  and  the  church  does 
not  go  to  them.  They  are  in  a  pit  so  deep  that  the  com- 
mon means  of  grace  do  not  avail ;  a  special  "  life-line  "  let 
down  to  their  level,  and  fitted  to  grapple  them  fast — a 
special  message  and  mission,  with  peculiar  love  for  the  lost 
and  passion  for  souls,  seem  needful  for  this  sort  of  work. 
The  Church  has  often  been  charged  with  indifference 
where,  perhaps,  the  real  difficulty  is  inadequacy.  Many  a 
pastor  or  earnest  Christian  stands  and  looks  on  the  dying 
thousands  of  drunkards,  harlots,  criminals,  paupers,  about 
them,  and  simply  turns  away,  sick  at  heart,  as  a  helpless 
observer,  standing  on  a  sea-beach,  beholds  others  hope- 
lessly carried  beyond  reach  of  any  available  life-saving  ap- 
paratus, to  drown. 

This  half  century  has  witnessed  rescue  work  on  a  scale 
of  magnitude,  both  as  to  the  effort  and  its  results,  probably 
beyond  any  other  period  of  history.  A  few  forms  of  this 
philanthropy  deserve  special  mention,  while  others  which 
may  have  only  a  mention,  are  no  less  deserving  of  sym- 
pathy and  aid.  The  Salvation  Army  and  American  Vol- 
unteers,* The  Mission  to  the  Deep-Sea  Fishermen,  The 


♦  Mrs.  Ballington  Booth's  work  for  the  prisoners. 

351 


352  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Jerry  McAuley  Mission,  The  Florence-Crittenton  Mid- 
night Mission  may  stand  as  representative  movements. 
The  first  two  are  directed  toward  the  poor  and  outcast 
classes  generally;  the  third,  toward  the  fishermen  off  the 
British  Isles;  the  fourth  is  planted  amid  the  drunkards, 
thieves,  and  worthless  scamps  of  \yater  Street,  New 
York ;  and  the  last  is  sacredly  limited  to  the  street- walkers 
and  lost  women  who  have  sacrificed  chastity  on^the  altars 
of  passion,  poverty,  and  ignorance  of  the  value  of  woman- 
hood and  virtue. 

As  to  the  Salvation  Army,  the  one  personality  about 
whom  this  gigantic  scheme  revolved^  and  from  whom  it 
took  its  real  character,  was  perhaps  Catherine  Booth,  more 
than  even  her  husband.  She  will  ever  be  remembered  as 
"  the  mother  of  the  Salvation  Army."  Her  memorials, 
in  two  great  volumes,  octavo,  of  about  700  pages  each,  are 
before  the  public,  written  in  sympathetic  ink  by  her  son- 
in-law,  Mr.  Booth-Tucker.  They  show  how  far-reaching 
and  deep-reaching  her  influence  was,  and  are  more  fascina- 
ting than  any  fiction.  Mrs.  Booth  was  one  of  the  greatest 
and  best  women  of  her  century.  A  daughter  who  was 
one  of  the  rarest  gifts  God  ever  gave  to  a  parent;  a  wife 
that  stood  by  her  husband  at  risk  of  everything,  and  stirred 
him  up  to  as  much  good  as  Jezebel  stirred  Ahab  to  evil,; 
and  a  mother  who  swore  a  solemn  oath  before  high  heaven 
that  she  never  would  have  a  godless  child ! 

Upon  her  heart  lay  like  a  nightmare  the  awful  woe  and 
wickedness  of  the  "  submerged  "  populations  that  are  sunk 
out  of  ordinary  reach,  and  almost  out  of  sight,  in  their  own 
wantonness  and  wretchedness.  And  when  little  by  little 
the  plans  grew  whereby  it  was  proposed  to  get  a  hold  upon 
these  neglected  and  neglecting  millions,  she  became  the 
cherishing  mother  of  the  whole  movement.  She  nursed 
it  from  the  full  breasts  of  her  consolations ;  she  bore  it  in 
the  tireless  arms  of  her  faith;  she  fostered  it  by  her 


RESCUE  MISSIONS  353 

prayers ;  she  bathed  it  in  her  tears ;  she  wrapped  it  in  the 
mantle  of  her  love;  she  patiently  forebore  with  its  follies 
and  wants ;  she  as  patiently  counseled  and  cautioned,  while 
she  passionately  pleaded  and  urged.  When  she  died  it 
seemed  to  "  General  "  Booth  himself  as  tho  this  world- 
embracing  scheme  had  lost  its  head  and  heart,  and  was  in 
a  state  of  widowhood  and  orphanhood,  both  at  once. 

The  Salvation  Army,  with  all  its  extravagances  and 
serious  defects  has  been  on  the  whole  a  great  success. 
Two  great  errors  mar  its  record  thus  far;  it  has  not  suf- 
ficiently exalted  the  Word  of  God,  and  it  is  virtually  a 
church  without  sacraments.  There  is  an  undue  emphasis 
upon  a  subjective  experience  and  a  personal  testimony, 
while  the  objective  truth  and  the  inspired  Book  of  Witness 
fall  into  the  background.  In  the  Salvation  Army  halls  the 
Bible  is  rarely  lifted  to  prominence,  as  the  acknowledged 
centre  of  all  testimony  and  teachmg ;  nor  are  Baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper  observed  in  connection  with  this  organi- 
zation. True,  Mr.  Booth  disclaims  all  churchly  character 
for  the  organization  ;  it  is  not  a  church,  but  an  army.  Yet  it 
remains  true  that  he  gathers  in  converts,  and  teaches  them 
to  make  the  army  their  church — for  he  says  they  can  not 
serve  in  the  army  and  at  the  same  time  be  active  members 
in  any  church — and  yet  he  makes  no  provision  for  obedi- 
ence to  the  only  two  specific  ordinances  ever  enjoined  by 
our  Lord. 

Nevertheless,  the  army  has  achieved  great  things.  It 
has  planted  everywhere  its  halls,  its  refuges,  its  homes, 
its  hundred-fold  methods,*  and  they  have  proved  effective 
beyond  anything  of  the  sort,  in  actually  uplifting,  saving, 
and  transforming  men  and  women.     And,  altho  the  head 


*  The  latest  enterprise  in  America  is  the  Farm  Colony  established  in  Cali- 
fornia, and  intended  to  provide  homes  for  the  poor  of  our  great  cities  who 
are  willing  to  work.  This  colony  is  not  "  cooperative,"  but  has  certain  rules 
and  restrictions  calculated  to  contribute  to  the  well-being  of  the  community. 
Thirty-one  houses  had  already  been  built  in  the  first  colony  in  1898. 


354  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

of  this  vast  organization  is  one  of  the  most  autocratic  of 
autocrats,  he  has  handled  immense  sums  of  money  and 
given  a  good  account  of  his  stewardship.  Even  his  ene- 
mies and  detractors  have  failed  to  find  any  fatal  flaw  in 
his  business-like,  economical,  honest,  and  judicious  use  of 
money.  He  seems  to  live  for  the  work  he  has  undertaken, 
and  to  have  laid  himself  on  the  altar  of  his  service. 

The  work  of  Jerry  McAuley,  the  apostle  to  the  outcasts, 
recently  commanded  special  public  attention  by  the  ob- 
servance of  its  twenty-fifth  anniversary,  in  Carnegie  Hall, 
New  York,  of  which  ample  notice  was  taken  by  the  press. 

In  nothing  does  God's  hand  more  strikingly  appear  than 
in  the  fitness  of  workers  for  their  work.  Times,  places, 
forms  of  service,  and  adaptation  of  means  to  ends,  all  show 
intelligent  design  and  a  personal  control.  In  the  character 
and  career  of  this  founder  of  the  "Water  Street"  and 
"  Cremorne  "  missions  for  the  reclamation  of  the  worst 
and  most  dangerous  classes,  there  may  be  seen  a  converg- 
ence of  many  marked  providential  lines  of  preparation. 

Well  known  as  are  this  man  and  his  work  by  name,  it  is 
very  doubtful  whether  one  in  ten,  even  of  the  church-goers 
in  the  great  metropolis,  knows  much  of  the  actual  incep- 
tion and  growth  of  this  enterprise,  still  less  of  the  way  in 
which  it  is  carried  on.  Yet  it  is  certain  that  no  true  dis- 
ciple could  doubt,  after  personal  observation,  that  if  any- 
where in  this  vortex  of  crime  our  Divine  Master  is  closely 
imitated  it  is  in  the  Jerry  McAuley  work. 

No  316  Water  Street,  New  York,  is  almost  exactly  un- 
derneath the  western  approach  to  the  great  suspension 
bridge  which  spans  the  East  River.  Any  night  of  the 
year  a  good-sized  room  may  there  be  found,  full  of  men, 
who.  for  the  most  part,  are  obviously  poor,  given  to  drink 
anu  other  vices ;  and  many  faces  bear  the  marks  of  crime. 
A  few  seem  to  have  the  black  brand  of  Cain.  The  tramp 
,and  pauper^  the  pickpocket  and  river  thief,  the  besotted 


RESCUE  MISSIONS  355 

sailor  and  highway  robber,  the  procurer  to  lust  and  the 
blatant  blasphemer — every  class  of  the  worst  men  and 
women  find  their  way  there,  and  one  may  there  speak  to 
from  two  hundred  to  three  hundred  of  these  victims  of 
want,  woe,  and  vice.  On  one  night  of  the  week  these  hun- 
dreds are  freely  fed  with  good  bread  and  coffee,  as  well  as 
with  the  Bread  of  Life.  The  Gospel  is  sung  with  rousing 
effect,  brief  and  simple  Gospel  talks  interspersed,  and  an 
after-meeting  always  follows  for  prayer  and  testimony, 
and  hand-to-hand  touch  with  inquirers. 

For  over  a  quarter  of  a  century,  night  after  night  in  hot 
and  cold  weather,  in  wet  and  dry,  with  no  dependence  but 
faith  in  God,  with  ;io  recompense  but  the  wages  of  soul 
winners,  his  work  has  gone  on,  at  times  scarce  surviving 
for  want  of  funds  and  popular  sympathy,  yet  always  out- 
living any  threatened  danger  of  collapse,  because  God  is 
behind  it.  It  is  no  slight  upon  any  other  true  work  of 
God  among  the  lowest  classes,  to  record  the  calm  con- 
viction that,  beyond  any  other  one  agency  in  the  great 
metropolis,  the  Lord  has  used  this  Water  Street  Mission 
to  reach,  reclaim,  and  restore  the  very  outcasts,  and  par- 
ticularly men.  Tho  there  has  been  no  jealous  care  to 
count  up  converts  and  tabulate  tangible  results  in  statistics, 
during  the  quarter  century,  this  mission  and  the  Cremorne 
Mission  in  Thirty-second  Street,  which  is  its  later  out- 
growth, have,  without  doubt,  caused  a  million  outcasts 
to  hear  the  Gospel,  and  at  least  fifteen  thousand  men  and 
women  have  found  their  way  to  a  sober,  honest,  virtuous 
life  by  these  means. 

Such  a  work,  going  on  quietly,  on  such  a  scale,  demands 
attention  and  assistance  from  those  who  would  help  to 
save  the  lost.  While  others  talk  and  write  about  the  prob- 
lem of  reaching  the  outcasts,  this  mission  is  doing  it,  doing 
it  so  scripturally  as  to  defy  crificsm,  and  so  efficiently  as  to 
merit  imitation.     After  frequent  visits  to  both  the  Water 


356  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Street  and  Cremorne  missions,  we  bear  witness  that  no 
feature  of  the  work  has  left  an  unfavorable  impression. 
Economy  and  simplicity  of  management,  directness  of  ap- 
peal, evangelical  tone,  a  prayerful  spirit,  dependence  on 
God,  hearty  sympathy  for  man  as  man,  and  a  divine  pas- 
sion for  souls,  seem  to  mark  the  whole  history  of  the 
work  which  Jerry  McAuley  founded,  and  which  Mr.  S. 
H.  Hadley  and  others  carry  on  in  the  same  spirit.  If  any 
doubt  whether  any  good  thing  can  come  out  of  Nazareth, 
the  old  remedy  is  still  at  hand,  "  Come  and  see." 

As  this  mission  of  Jerry  McAuley  has  completed  its  first 
quarter  century,  it  may  be  well  to  give  a  brief  resume  of 
the  rescue  work. 

Its  beginning  was  unique.  John  Allen — **  the  wicked- 
est man  in  New  York  " — kept  a  saloon  and  dance-house 
in  Water  Street,  two  doors  from  the  site  of  this  mission. 
In  a  dare-devil  spirit  he  asked  some  missionaries,  as  they 
passed  along  one  Sunday  afternoon  in  1868,  to  come  in 
and  hold  a  prayer-meeting  in  his  saloon.  They  consented, 
if  he  would  shut  up  his  bar,  which  he  did,  and  in  this 
strange  place  for  a  Gospel  service,  praise  and  prayer  and 
testimony  for  a  little  time  displaced  drunkenness,  pro- 
fanity, and  lust.  Allen's  drunken  fun  led  to  serious  busi- 
ness, for  the  invitation  was  soberly  repeated,  and  the  sa- 
loon was  packed  the  next  Sunday,  and  many  could  not  get 
inside.  New  Yorkers  will  not  forget  the  wild  excitement 
which  is  forever  linked  with  John  Allen's  name,  from  this 
remarkable  invasion  of  his  premises  by  the  Gospel  of 
grace.  Up  to  this  time  the  Water  Street  neighborhood 
was  a  gateway  of  hell,  nay,  one  long  row  of  "  dives  "  and 
"  dance-halls,"  where  almost  every  door  led  down  to  the 
devil's  headquarters.  Kit  Burns'  ratpit  was  but  a  block 
away,  where  "  Jack,  the  rat,"  bit  oflf  rats'  heads  for  the  en- 
tertainment of  sightseers!  * 


RESCUE  MISSIONS 


357 


This  open  door  at  Allen's  saloon  led  to  further  attempts 
to  enter  this  highway  to  perdition.  A  missionary,  Mr. 
Little  by  name,  while  mounting  a  stairway  found  a  gigan- 
tic amazon  disputing  his  advance.  "  Madam,"  said  he,  of- 
fering a  tract,  "  do  you  know  Jesus  ?  "  "  Faith,  and  who  is 
He?"  was  the  answer.  A  few  feet  away,  and  within  a 
door  that  stood  ajar,  lay  Jerry  McAuley — drunk.  He  had 
been  converted  at  Sing  Sing  prison  by  hearing  "  Awful " 
(Orville)  Gardner,  the  famous  prize-fighter,  give  his 
testimony  in  the  prison  chapel.  Jerry  had  known  him  well 
before  the  grace  of  God  touched  him,  and  he  could  not 
resist  such  witness  to  the  power  of  God.  It  resulted  in 
such  a  change  of  life  in  himself  that  Governor  Dix 
pardoned  him  and  set  him  free.  But  the  ex-convict  found 
even  divine  pardon  was  not  social  restoration,  and  for  lack 
of  a  helping  hand,  he  fell  back  into  evil  ways.  The  men- 
tion of  that  magic  name,  "  Jesus,"  even  in  a  drunkard's 
ear,  proved  mighty  to  recover  the  backslider,  whom  it  had 
saved  as  the  outcast  sinner.  Jerry  leaped  to  his  feet,  and  his 
whole  attire  and  appearance  helping  to  render  him  fright- 
ful, he  ran  after  the  fleeing  missionary,  asking :  "  What 
name  was  that  you  mentioned  to  that  woman  ?  "  The 
missionary  thought  he  was  confronting  another  belligerent 
fellow  worse  than  the  amazon  ;  but  Jerry  continued :  '*  I 
used  to  love  that  name  in  prison  long  ago^  but  I  lost  Him. 
I  wish  I  knew  where  to  find  Him  again !  " 

Mr.  Little  got  him  to  sign  the  pledge,  but  he  soon  broke 
it,  and  was  again  on  the  road  to  crime  when  again  he  met 
the  missionary.  "  Jerry,  where  are  you  going?  "  "  I  can't 
starve,"  was  the  sullen  answer.  "  I  will  pawn  my  coat 
for  you,  Jerry,  before  I  will  see  you  steal."  A  glance  at 
the  coat,  which  would  not  have  brought  a  half  dollar  at  a 
pawn  shop,  gave  Jerry  McAuley  a  glimpse  into  the  un- 
selfishness of  love,  and  he  said,  "  If  you  love  me  that  way. 


358  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

I'll  die  before  I  steal."  Mr.  Little  gave  him  that  promise  of 
God  to  live  by  and  live  on,  which  has  sustained  many  a 
sinking  soul :  "  Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His 
righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto 
you."  He  said,  "  I'll  take  it,"  and  that  very  night  he 
parted  from  his  companion  in  thievery.  Even  yet,  his 
backsliding  was  only  in  part  arrested,  until  he  sacrificed 
his  last  idol,  tobacco,  and  after  that  he  never  fell  again. 
Four  years  later,  he  began  the  Water  Street  work. 

The  Lord  gave  Jerry  a  grand  helper  in  his  faithful  wife, 
who  became  at  this  time  a  convert  to  grace.  The  begin- 
nings of  their  mission  work  were  small  and  humble,  but 
the  work  was  of  God.  The  methods  were  novel  in  their 
very  simplicity.  There  was  no  rant  or  cant,  no  icy  for- 
mality or  fashionable  rigidity.  It  was  a  hand-to-hand 
contact  for  soul  saving.  Any  and  every  man  and  woman 
who  wanted  salvation,  or  was  willing  to  hear  the  good 
news,  was  welcome,  but  cranks,  impostors,  disturbers  of 
the  peace  found  the  atmosphere  uncongenial.  Jerry, 
sometimes,  had  desperate  fellows  to  deal  with,  who  were 
the  devil's  own  agents  to  break  up  his  meetings,  but  in 
God's  name  he  grappled  with  them^  and  seemed  to  have 
the  strength  of  Samson  and  the  courage  of  Joshua.  Per- 
secution was  not  lacking.  Coals  of  fire  were  literally 
flung  on  McAuley  and  his  wife  when  they  ventured  into 
the  street.  They  were  arraigned  in  court  as  disturbers  of 
the  peace  they  were  seeking  to  make,  and  but  for  friendly 
intervention  would  more  than  once  have  got — where  Paul 
and  Silas  did  at  Philippi — into  jail.  The  work  went  on, 
though  human  malice  and  Satanic  might  united  to  crush 
it.  The  old  building  was  torn  down  in  1876,  and  the 
present  one  took  its  place.  Then,  six  years  later,  the  Cre- 
morne  McAuley  Mission,  104  W.  32d  street,  was  begun, 
and  there  he  finished  his  course,  leaving  both  missions  to 
other  hands,  by  whom  they  are  carried  on  in  like  manner. 


RESCUE  MISSIONS  359 

Those  who  feel  an  interest  may  find  in  two  books  the 
outline  of  this  history  of  a  quarter  century  rescue  work.* 
Better  still,  let  any  who  can,  visit  the  mission,  where  a 
warm  welcome  will  await  them.  There  the  convict  is  as 
much  at  home  as  the  most  respectable  citizen,  and  as  sure 
of  a  handshake,  with  Gospel  love  behind  it.  There  he  will 
find  food,  clothing,  lodging,  if  he  needs  them,  and  better 
still,  hope  for  a  new  life.  He  will  not  be  put  through  a 
catechism,  nor  bored  with  a  homily,  nor  placed  under  es- 
pionage. He  will  be  trusted — a  strange  experience  for  one 
who  has  always  been  suspected.  He  will  find  a  Christian 
atmosphere,  but  not  a  pious  hot-house  where  religious  life 
is  forced  upon  him.  Many  a  criminal  and  outcast  has  found 
there  a  home — and  felt  the  touch  of  a  fraternal  hand,  an 
unvarying  and  indiscriminate  kindness.  Are  not  this 
kindness  and  confidence  abused  sometimes?  Certainly, 
often.  But  love  is  not  discouraged.  It  "  beareth  all 
things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth 
all  things.  Love  never  faileth."  The  poor  thief  steals, 
and  then  steals  away — but  he  comes  back — there  is  no 
other  resting  place.  Perhaps  hunger  and  want  drive  him 
back,  but  he  meets  no  reproaches,  or  upbraidings.  He 
may  sin  seventy  times  seven  times,  but  the  forgiveness 
that  awaits  him  has  no  limit,  because  it  is  patterned  after 
the  model  shown  in  the  Mount.  And  so  the  same  results 
follow  as  have  ever  followed  where  Calvary  is  reflected — 
Christ  draws  all  unto  Him.  Hard  hearts  are  broken, 
habits  of  vice  and  crime  are  abandoned,  wrecked  lives — 
and  worse,  wrecked  characters — are  not  put  in  dry-dock 
for  caulking  and  painting  and  remodeling,  but  forsaken, 
like  a  sinking  old  hulk,  for  a  new  life  and  character  in 


*  Read  "Jerry  McAuley,  His  Life  and  Work."  Edited  by  Rev.  R.  M. 
Offord.  Published  by  T/te  N.  Y.  Observer y  Fifth  Avenue.  Also,  "  Down  in 
Water-Street  for  Twenty-five  Years,"  by  S.  H.  Hadley,  Supt.  Apply  to 
Mr.  Hadley,  316  Water  Street,  N.  Y. 


36o  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Christ.  In  two  weeks  a  man  or  woman  is  sometimes 
transformed  beyond  recognition,  even  in  the  face,  and 
tempters  and  seducers  and  procurers  become  soul  winners. 

Water  Street  Mission  early  learned  that  methods  com- 
monly in  use  will  not  suffice  there.  The  work  of  saving 
drunkards  and  thieves  and  harlots  was  undertaken,  not  as 
a  bit  of  polite  philanthropy,  nor  even  of  Christian  duty, 
but  under  the  divine  impulse  of  passion  for  souls.  No 
kid  gloves  there  to  act  as  non-conductors — ^but  a  bare  hand 
with  holy  love  to  give  a  sympathetic  grasp.  Front  seats 
and  best  seats  reserved,  not  for  the  gold  ring  and  goodly 
apparel,  but  for  the  vile  raiment  and  sin-scarred  face. 
The  fundamental  law  of  soul  saving  there  is  that  you 
must  be  in  close  touch  with  those  whom  you  would  reach. 
And  the  history  of  these  twenty-five  years  proves  that 
some  men  and  women,  who  were  apparently  not  worth  the 
effort  to  save,  who  were  like  the  dog  and  the  sow  that  re- 
turn to  their  own  vices  and  wallowings,  have,  by  grace, 
become  the  most  heroic  and  successful  evangelists  and 
missionaries  and  soul  savers,  because  they  knew  and  felt 
what  it  was  to  be  hopelessly  and  helplessly  lost  and  know 
and  feel  what  it  is  to  be  both  saved  and  kept. 

The  superintendent  of  the  Water  Street  Mission  is  him- 
self a  man  gloriously  saved  from  the  lowest  hell  of  drunk- 
enness. No  wonder  he  can  sympathize.  He  glories  in  a 
"  Sinners'  Club  House,"  where  the  doors  are  always  open 
and  the  work  never  stops.  The  devil's  castaways  are  wel- 
come there.  When  a  man  is  kicked  out  of  all  the  dens 
of  infamy  and  iniquity,  because  he  is  of  no  more  use,  and 
nothing  more  can  be  got  out  of  him,  he  is  received  with 
open  arms.  The  mission  belongs  to  no  church  or  denomi- 
nation ;  its  field  is  the  world,  especially  the  worst  part  of  it, 
and  its  working  force  the  whole  Church  of  Christ,  es- 
pecially the  best  part  of  it.  Those  who  visit  tliat  mission 
see    how    the    cross    is    still    the    hope    for    the    dying 


X/HIVBHSITyi 
RESCUE  MISSIONS  NSj^aufo^ 

thief  and  the  seven-demoned  Magdalen;  and  how  the 
Pentecostal  fire  is  the  secret  still  of  all  holy  witness  and 
work  of  God.  Would  you  like  to  speak  to  such  men  and 
women?  No  rhetoric  or  eloquence  is  demanded — it 
would  be  out  of  place.  Go  and  tell  what  Jesus  has  done 
for  you,  and  let  there  be  a  grip  in  your  testimony.  You 
will  find  men  and  women  who  will  come  and  kneel  down 
by  those  "  tear-stained  benches,"  and  give  themselves  up 
to  the  Gospel  of  grace  to  be  created  anew  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Every  night  in  the  year  you  may  find  some  one  over  whom 
heaven  is  set  ringing  with  new  praises  and  songs  of  joy. 

And  yet  this  mission  has  to  struggle  with  debt!  Are 
there  none  among  the  children  of  God,  whose  eyes  read 
these  pages,  who  will  send  offerings  of  love  in  money  or 
clothing  to  Mr.  Hadley  for  the  men  who,  in  destitution,  are 
seeking  to  be  clothed  in  respectable  garments,  befitting  the 
newly-clothed  soul? 

Mr.  F.  N.  Charrington  was  born  in  Bow  Road,  in  the 
East  End  of  London,  February  4,  1850.  The  great  brew- 
ery of  Charrington,  Head  &  Co.,  is  situated  in  the  Mile 
End  Road,  and  covers  an  immense  space  of  ground.  To  a 
share  in  this  lucrative  concern  he  was  born. 

At  an  early  age  he  was  placed  in  a  school  in  Brighton, 
and  at  Brighton  College,  finished  his  curriculum  of  edu- 
cation, and  after  leaving  school,  went  on  a  continental 
tour.  His  father  offered  to  send  him  either  to  Oxford  or 
Cambridge  University,  but  this  he  declined,  and  com- 
menced learning  the  business  at  once  by  becoming  a  pupil 
of  Neville,  Reed  &  Co.,  brewers  to  the  Queen,  at  Windsor. 

After  remaining  at  Windsor  for  twelve  months.  Mr. 
Charrington  entered  his  father's  brewery.  Soon  after  this 
he  accompanied  his  parents  on  another  tour  on  the  Conti- 
nent, and  on  this  occasion  he  met  with  Mr.  William  Rains- 
ford,  son  of  the  Rev.  Marcus  Rainsford,  of  Belgrave 
Chapel.     They    traveled    in    company    on    the    return 


362  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

journey,  during  which  Mr.  Charrington  invited  his  young 
friend  to  visit  him  at  his  father's  house  at  Wimbledon. 

During  this  visit  Mr.  Rainsford  spoke  to  Mr.  Charring- 
ton about  his  soul,  and  plainly  asked  him  if  he  knew, 
whether  he  was  saved.  Mr.  Charrington  protested 
against  such  a  subject  being  brought  up,  especially  after 
such  a  pleasant  time  spent  on  the  Continent.  Mr.  Rains- 
ford,  however,  pressed  home  the  question,  and  made  Mr. 
Charrington  promise  he  would  read  the  third  of  John  when 
alone.  The  next  night  he  fulfilled  his  promise,  and  while 
thinking  over  the  passage,  he  recalled  the  following  inci- 
dent: 

On  one  occasion  while  staying  at  Hastings,  he  met  with 
a  young  friend,  Mr.  Manning,  who  was  visiting  that  water- 
ing place  with  his  tutor,  and  who  at  the  moment  of  meet- 
ing, had  just  been  hearing  Lord  Radstock  preach.  Mr. 
Canning  related  how  he  had  been  converted  at  the  meet- 
ing, and  was  now  a  saved  man.  To  Mr.  Charrington  all 
this  was  simply  a  riddle,  and  he  thought  it  was  at  least 
indecorous  for  a  youthful  aristocrat  to  go  and  hear  a  Dis- 
senter, even  though  that  Dissenter  was  himself  an  aris- 
tocrat. When  thus,  two  years  later,  he  sat  down  to  read  the 
Gospel  in  the  solitude  of  his  own  room,  this  came  back 
fresh  into  his  mind,  for  he  thought  it  was  strange  that  two 
of  his  friends  of  a  similar  age  should  agree  in  giving  a  cer- 
tain passage  the  same  singular  interpretation.  As  he  read, 
however,  the  light  came:  and  he  now  looks  back  to  this 
hour  as  the  one  when  he  received  the  truth  and  became  a 
believer  in  the  Lord  Jesus. 

Mr.  Charrington  at  once  became  possessed  with  new 
desires  and  ideas.  He  first  spoke  to  an  old  school-fellow, 
a  young  lawyer,  who  was  converted  at  school.  "  Christ 
died  for  us,"  argued  Mr.  Charrington ;  "  and  we  ought 
to  do  something  for  Him."     Soon  afterwards  he  waited 


RESCUE  MISSIONS  363 

upon  the  Rector  and  Rural  Dean  of  Stepney,  who,  while 
encouraging  his  application  for  work,  could  think  of  noth- 
ing more  effective  than  a  night  school. 

The  young  convert  was  glad  in  any  way  to  make  a  be- 
ginning. His  days  were  occupied  in  the  great  brewery, 
while  his  evenings  were  spent  in  the  night  school.  At 
this  time  he  became  acquainted  with  two  men  who  were 
carrying  on  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  a  work  of  a 
more  evangelistic  character  among  the  rough  boys  in  a 
hay-loft. 

Mr.  Charrington  thought,  as  he  stood  and  listened: 
"  This  is  far  more  like  real  work  for  the  Lord  than  my 
own  more  secular  night-school  work.'*  At  the  close  of  the 
service  the  singing  made  such  an  impression  upon  him 
that  he  again  sought  an  opportunity  of  visiting  the  work  in 
the  hay-loft,  and  at  once  proposed  that  they  should  join 
forces. 

Up  to  this  time  Mr.  Charrington  had  remained  in  the 
brewery,  but  momentous  changes  were  at  hand.  He  was 
now  heart  and  soul  in  his  new  work,  but  his  conscience 
was  not  at  rest.  Wherever  he  went,  he  saw  his  father's 
name  in  connection  with  the  firm,  printed  on  large  sign- 
boards over  the  various  public  houses.  He  began  to  wit- 
ness sights  that  touched  his  heart.  He  saw  drunken 
fathers,  gin-drinking  mothers,  ill-used  children  whose 
worst  enemies  were  those  whom  God  designed  to  be  their 
natural  protectors.  There  might  seem  to  be  light,  warmth 
and  cordials  within;  but  brawls  ancf  fights  spoiled  the 
glitter ;  and  then  above  all  he  read,  "  Charrington,  Head 
&  Co.,  Entire." 

In  addition  to  this,  the  lads  were  continually  asking  him 
questions  about  the  drink,  that  were  not  at  all  likely  to 
make  his  conscience  more  at  ease;  his  visitations  to  the 
homes  of  the  poor  revealed  a  state  of  things  that  he  had 


364  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

never  dreamed  of ;  and  he  began  to  feel  that,  as  a  brewer, 
he  was  pulling  down  with  one  hand  what,  as  a  Christian 
worker,  he  was  building  up  with  the  other. 

The  crisis  came.  Mr.  Charrington  told  his  father  that 
he  could  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the  business  of  the 
brewery.  The  decision  came  so  unexpectedly  that  it  was 
a  great  blow  to  the  family.  He  renounced  his  trade  with 
its  golden  prospects,  without  asking  about  the  conse- 
quences, and  was  allowed  to  retire  in  quietness.  On  his 
death-bed  the  father  expressed  his  approval  of  the  course 
his  son  had  taken,  altho  in  his  will  (which  had  previously 
been  made)  the  share  in  his  father's  brewery  was  offered 
for  his  acceptance,  with  an  alternative  of  a  sum  of  money 
sufficient  to  produce  an  income  to  maintain  him  for  life. 

Mr.  Charrington's  withdrawal  from  the  brewery  created 
considerable  commotion.  His  temperance  friends  invited 
him  to  take  the  chair  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Band  of 
Hope  Union  at  Exeter  Hall.  On  the  night  of  the  meeting 
(February  18,  1873)  the  streets  outside  were  crowded; 
the  crush  within  was  very  great,  the  cheering  was  deafen- 
ing, and  the  waving  of  hats  and  handkerchiefs  was  to  be 
seen  all  over  the  hall,  while  many  hearts  were  uplifted  in 
earnest  prayer  that  the  young  man  might  be  kept  true  to 
the  profession  he  had  made,  and  become  pre-eminently 
useful  in  the  service  of  Christ. 

Street  preaching  was  a  means  greatly  used  of  God  from 
the  outset.  The  work  now  began  to  get  known,  and  the 
parents  of  several  boys,  seeing  the  change  in  their  chil- 
dren's lives,  came  to  the  Mission  Hall  to  see  this  young 
converted  brewer,  as  Mr.  Charrington  was  called.  Then 
they  asked  permission  to  stay  to  the  service  themselves,  till 
they  came  in  such  numbers  that  a  separate  meeting  had  to 
be  held  for  them.  Soon  after  this,  an  iron  building,  to 
seat  500  persons,  was  erected  by  the  late  Mr.  Pemberton 
Barnes,  in  Carleton  Sq.,  Globe  Road,  and  given  over  to 


RESCUE  MISSIONS  365 

Mr.  Charrington  for  adult  work.  This  effort  succeeded 
so  well  that  Mr.  Charrington  hired  a  tent,  and  placed  it 
upon  a  site  in  the  main  thoroughfare  of  the  Mile  End 
Road,  and  here  a  great  work  for  God  was  done,  and  man^r 
souls  saved. 

A  still  better  site  was  afterwards  purchased,  and  in 
order  to  lose  no  time,  a  large  circular  tent  was  put  up  and 
opened   in   May,    1876. 

In  1877  a  temporary  building  of  brick,  wood,  and  cor- 
rugated iron — ^being  part  of  the  Hall  in  which  Messrs. 
Moody  and  Sankey  held  their  services  on  their  first  visit 
to  London — was  substituted  for  the  tent,  and  formed  one 
of  the  most  noteworthy  features  in  the  Mile  End  Road;  not 
on  account  of  its  beauty,  for  utility  supplanted  all  such 
considerations ;  but  principally  by  reason  of  its  size,  and  of 
the  great  eagerness  displayed  by  the  crowds  of  East  Lon- 
don to  obtain  admission. 

The  great  Assembly  Hall  has  always  had  one  distin- 
guishing characteristic, — a  characteristic  which  it  shares 
with  no  other  public  building  of  the  kind  in  the  Metropo- 
lis. Since  its  erection  it  has  been  open  every  night,  all  the 
year  round. 

The  work  had  now  grown  so  much  that  a  larger  build- 
ing was  needed.  The  regular  attendants  at  the  Hall — 
poor  as  they  are — feeling  this  great  need,  contributed  in 
small  sums  upwards  of  $1,500  to  the  Building  Fund; 
$45,000  was  laid  out  in  the  erection  of  frontage  buildings, 
covering  a  site  90  feet  in  width  and  43  feet  in  depth. 
They  comprise  a  spacious  Coffee  Palace,  which  is  self- 
supporting,  and  supplies  all  the  attractions  of  the  public 
house  without  the  intoxicating  drink;  a  Book  Saloon, 
where  pure  literature  is  sold,  counteracting  the  pernicious 
Influences  of  the  well-named  "  penny  horribles ;  "  and,  on 
three  upper  floors,  various  club  rooms  and  offices,  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  and  Young  Women's  Chris- 


366  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

tian  Association  Rooms,  Building  Societies,  Coal  Club, 
Provident  Club,  Phcenix  Order,  Temperance  Society, 
Singing  and  Violin  Classes,  Benefit  Club,  etc.,  etc.  Three 
fine  entrances,  one  on  either  side  and  the  third  in  the 
center,  lead  into  a  vestibule  of  octagonal  shape,  and  of 
what  is  considered  a  perfect  design  for  the  purpose,  the 
number  of  exits  being  great.  Behind  the  vestibule  stands 
the  New  Hall,  holding  nearly  5,000  persons.  On  Sunday 
nights  its  accommodation  is  none  too  ample,  hundreds 
often  being  unable  to  get  in. 

The  Hall  has  a  height  of  nearly  50  feet  in  the  clear ;  and 
a  depth  of  154  feet,  the  width  being  70  feet.  There  are 
three  galleries,  with  double  platforms,  and  space  for 
organ  and  choirs.  The  ceiling  is  nearly  flat,  for  sound, 
with  covered  sides.  This  Hall,  apart  from  the  frontage, 
has  cost  $100,000. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

THE  ELEVATION  OF  ORPHANS  AND  OUTCAST  CHILDREN 

Of  the  efforts  made  in  this  direction  we  give  two  notable 
examples,  both  of  them  described  in  the  language  of 
others:  first  the  Little  Republic  at  Freeville,  N.  Y.,  and 
the  other  the  Orphan  Colony  at  Bridge  of  Weir,  Scot- 
land. 

Of  the  former,  Mr.  Delavan  L.  Pierson  has  written : 

Mr.  William  R.  George,  a  New  York  business  man,  who 
for  years  had  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  boys  of  the  slums, 
devised  a  plan  whereby  they  could  be  taken  out  of  their  de- 
grading surroundings  and  placed  where  they  might  have 
every  opportunity  for  learning  the  art  of  self-control,  and 
be  taught  Christian  ideals  of  life  and  service. 

Mr.  George  had  studied  the  boys  from  their  social  and 
industrial  side,  and  in  the  boys'  clubs  had  come  to  under- 
stand and  love  them.  Requesting  appointment  as  special 
detective,  he  studied  them  also  from  their  criminal  side. 
Moved  by  their  poverty  and  the  degraded  character  of 
their  surroundings,  he  planned  to  give  some  of  them  a 
summer  outing  on  a  country  farm  in  Freeville,  Tompkins 
County,  N.  Y.,  near  his  boyhood  home.  The  first  year  he 
"  aired  "  fifty  and  the  second  year  two  hundred  of  them, 
but  physical  vigor  seemed  to  be  gained  without  corre- 
sponding advance  in  moral  character,  and  it  soon  became 
clear  that  they  came  merely  for  what  they  could  get,  and 
felt  justified  in  claiming  as  their  due  whatever  they  might 
wish  to  ask  for.  The  result  was  that  they  were  being 
pauperized.     Incorrigible    at    home,    they    were    as    bad 


368  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

under  their  changed  conditions,  and  all  rules  and  require- 
ments were  deliberately  broken.  Neither  corporal  nor 
any  other  form  of  punishment  availed  to  prevent  evil- 
doing.  Mr.  George  had  recourse  even  to  substitutionary 
punishment,  himself  taking  the  lashes  deserved  by  the 
boys.  But  swearing,  gambling,  stealing,  and  other  vices 
continued  to  flourish. 

Much  of  the  pauperizing  evil  was  done  away  with  dur- 
ing the  fourth  summer,  when  the  children  were  obliged 
to  work  for  the  clothes  or  gifts  which  they  wished  to  carry 
back  to  the  city.     Most  of  them,  however,  chose  to  go 
without  rather  than  sacrifice  their  leisure.     One  day  the 
adult  overseer,  being  obliged  to  absent  himself  for  a  time, 
Mr.  George  hesitatingly  placed  in  charge  one  of  the  older 
boys,  a  leader  among  his  mates.     To  his  amazement,  the 
discipline  and  order  was  markedly  better.    To  these  boys 
the  law,  and  its  most  familiar  exponent,  the  ''  cop,"  are 
institutions  to  be  outwitted^  evaded  and  duped,  as  are  all 
superiors  and  supervisors.     But  when  one  of  their  own 
number  assumed  command,  all  this  was  changed.    There 
was  no  glory  to  be  had  from  outwitting  an  equal,  but  a 
great  deal  of  ignominy  in  suffering  punishment  at  his 
hands.     This  experience  led  Mr.  George  to  inaugurate 
trial  by  jury  for  all  offenses,  with  a  penalty  of  fines  to 
be  paid  by  a  certain  number  of  hours  of  work.    He  found 
among  the  boys  a  spirit  of  justice,  tempered  by  mercy, 
which  was  a  revelation  to  him.     He,  however,  still  kept 
tight  grasp  of  the  helm,  appointing  the  jurors  himself, 
and  often  personally  superintending  the  penal  labor.     In 
1895  he  gave  up  his  business  in  New  York,  deciding  that 
no  permanent  good  could  be  done  when  the  boys  were 
with  him  so  short  a  time.    He,  therefore,  resolved  to  keep 
as  many  as  would  stay  through  the  winter.    The  success 
of  the  boys  in  administering  their  laws  led  to  the  idea  of 
allowing  them  to  make  their  own  laws  as  well.    Thus,  as 


ORPHANS  AND  DESTITUTE  CHILDREN  369 

by  an  inspiration,  the  whole  scheme  of  the  Junior  Re- 
public, with  its  bread-earning,  law-making,  and  law-exe- 
cuting citizens,  was  born  July  10,  1895. 

The  government  of  the  Republic  is  a  democracy  of  the 
citizens,  by  the  citizens,  and  for  the  citizens,  even  more 
truly  than  is  our  greater  republic,  since  the  extremes  of 
poverty  and  wealth  are  not  present  to  deflect  the  course 
of  righteous  government.  The  constitution  is  modeled 
after  that  of  the  United  States,  the  laws  are  those  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  and  the  form  of  local  government 
contains  many  features  of  municipalities.  At  present  Mr. 
George  acts  as  president.  Cabinet  officers  are  elected  by 
the  citizens,  good,  moral  standing  in  the  commuunity  be- 
ing a  prime  requisite  in  candidates  for  office.  The  chief 
of  police  draws  the  highest  salary,  but  candidates  for 
this  and  all  other  appointive  positions  are  required  to  pass 
a  civil  service  examination.  There  is  at  present  rather  a 
rapid  rotation  in  office,  but  as  the  number  of  citizens  in- 
creases, the  term  of  office  may  more  safely  be  lengthened.* 

All  tenure  of  office  is  dependent  upon  upright  be- 
havior. It  is  the  ambition  of  every  boy  to  attain  to  the 
distinction  of  the  vertically  striped  trousers.  Most  of  them 
would  rather  be  "  cop  "  than  president.  In  1896  a  force 
of  fourteen  policemen  were  necessary  to  preserve  order, 
but  now  the  state  is  encumbered  with  the  support  of  but 
two.  The  positions  of  chief  justice,  civil  service  commis- 
sioner, board  of  health  commissioner,  sheriff — in  short, 
nearly  every  office  connected  with  our  complicated  city 
and  state  organizations — has  its  counterpart  in  this  Junior 
Republic,  excepting  that  of  coroner.  There  is  even  an  of- 
ficer detailed  in  the  early  fall  to  compel  lazy  truants  to 
attend  school. 


*  According  to  the  constitution,  adopted  March  8, 1898,  representatives  held 
oflBce  one  month,  senators  three  months,  and  president  one  year.  Since  Jan. 
I,  iBqq,  a  town  meeting  has  taken  the  place  of  the  two  houses  of  congress  as 
the  legislative  body. 


370  FORWARD  MOVEMENTb 

The  number  of  citizens  is  necessarily  limited.  In  June, 
1898,  there  were  forty-four  boys  and  seven  girls ;  eight  of 
the  number  were  minors.  The  regulation  of  the  summer 
citizens,  who  formerly  came  for  July  and  August,  was  a 
difficult  problem,  and  this  feature  of  the  work  has  now 
been  abandoned.  They  came  in  great  numbers  from 
haunts  of  unrestrained  evil,  and  they  did  not  stay  long 
enough  to  become  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  honorable  self- 
support,  nor  to  acquire  love  for  the  institutions  of  their 
adopted  state,  yet,  because  of  their  superior  numbers,  they 
often  ran  the  legislature,  or  at  least  had  great  influence  in 
that  body.  But  to  deny  them  the  rights  of  citizenship 
would  have  been  to  set  aside  the  very  foundation  principles 
of  the  republic.  To  remedy  this  evil,  Mr.  George  proposed 
to  found  another  state,  to  be  composed  almost  entirely  of 
simimer  citizens,  with  a  few  all-year  residents  for  ballast. 
The  farm  is  a  large  one,  containing  fifty  acres,  and  there 
would  be  ample  room  for  such  division,  if  the  additional 
expense  could  be  met. 

A  new  citizen  generally  spends  much  of  his  first  month 
in  jail  for  offenses  of  one  sort  or  another,  after  which  it 
takes  a  month  of  exemplary  conduct  to  qualify  him  to  hold 
any  office;  thus,  if  his  stay  is  only  three  months  long,  he 
leaves  just  as  he  and  the  state  are  beginning  to  reap  the 
rewards  of  his  well-doing. 

The  citizens  of  the  Republic  are  largely  New  Yorkers, 
as  Mr.  George's  previous  work  was  with  the  boys  of  the 
East  Side  of  that  city,  but  there  are  numerous  sources  of 
supply.  Parents  whose  children  are  wayward  and  dis- 
obedient, police  whose  lives  are  made  miserable  by  little 
incorrigibles,  heads  of  reformatories  who  acknowledge 
their  inability  to  restrain  or  improve  their  vicious  young 
charges,  and  judges  of  county  courts,  who,  after  a  boy 
has  served  a  sentence  or  two  without  improvement,  turn 
him  over  to  Mr.  George  that  he  may  be  checked  in  his 


ORPHANS  AND  DESTITUTE  CHILDREN  371 

career  of  crime — these,  together  with  the  Society  for  Pre- 
vention of  Cruelty  to  Children,  send  to  the  Junior  Republic 
material,  which,  altho  most  unpromising  at  first,  is  de- 
veloped in  a  year  or  two  into  upright,  steady,  and  usually 
Christian  citizens,  who  often  go  out  to  assume  positions 
of  trust  in  the  business  world.  As  is  usual  with  such  suc- 
cessful enterprises,  there  are  about  four  hundred  more 
applicants  than  can  be  accommodated,  one  great  difficulty 
usually  being  the  regular  supply  of  funds  to  carry  on  the 
work.* 

Twelve  years  is  accounted  the  age  of  majority,  all  under 
twelve  being  minors  without  full  citizenship.  These  latter 
are  under  guardians  appointed  by  the  state  from  among 
the  older  boys  and  girls,  who  must  render  account  to  the 
state  for  their  stewardship.  Many  of  these  guardians 
have  shown  themselves  to  be  wise,  tactful,  and  loving  care- 
takers of  the  little  ones  entrusted  to  their  charge.  When 
the  minors  can  not  fully  support  themselves,  their  guar- 
dians must  look  outjfor  them,  so  that  the  state  is  not  en- 
cumbered with  their  support.  This  fact  alone  bespeaks 
unselfishness  in  the  citizens  who  assume  the  care  of  mi- 
nors. 

One  little  fellow  only  nine  years  old,  who  had  already 
been  found  guilty  in  five  cases  of  arson,  and  two  of  theft, 
was  sent  to  Freeville,  and  given  into  the  care  of  a  lad  of 
thirteen  with  fatherly  instincts.  This  lad  took  the  boy  into 
his  room,  and  spoke  to  him  lovingly  of  the  past,  and  of 
his  desire  to  make  a  man  of  him,  and  then  knelt  at  his 
side  and  prayed  for  help.  The  little  chap  is  still  at  the 
Republic,  and  is  now  one  of  the  most  active  Christians 
there.  In  prayer  meeting  his  childlike  testimony  or  prayer 
is   seldom   wanting.     Last  winter  he   confided   to   Mrs. 


*  The  Republic  is  supported  by  voluntary  contributions,  five  dollars  a  year 
constituting  a  member  of  the  association,  $25  yearly  a  sustaining  member, 
and  $250  a  life  member.  Mr.  A.  G.  Agnew,  7  Nassau  street,  New  York,  is  the 
treastirer,  to  whom  donations  of^clothing,  books,  or  money  should  be  sent. 


37.2  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

George  a  little  struggle  which  he  had  had  with  himself. 
It  was  zero  weather,  and  he  had  undressed  and  crawled 
into  bed  under  the  warm  blankets  as  quickly  as  possible. 
"  I  remembered,"  said  the  boy,  "  that  I  had  not  said  my 
prayers.  It  was  so  awful  cold,  I  thought  I  wouldn't  get 
up.  Then  the  old  devil  began  to  jolly  me  and  tell  me  I 
was  a  good  boy,  and  hadn't  done  anything  much  that  was 
bad  that  day.  He  kept  on  talking  that  way,  till  he  almost 
talked  me  to  sleep.  Then  I  roused  up  like,  and  I  prayed 
the  Lord  to  help  me  down  the  old  devil,  and  I  got  strength, 
and  just  jumped  out  of  bed  and  made  my  prayer,  and  then 
I  knew  that  I  had  downed  the  old  devil." 

As  has  already  been  mentioned,  a  small  portion  of  the 
citizens  are  girls.  This  will  undoubtedly  seem  to  some  to 
be  radically  opposed  to  all  established  reformatory  prin- 
ciples. Yet  the  results  without  exception  have  been  more 
than  satisfactory.  One  girl  who  had  been  dismissed  from 
an  institution  on  account  of  her  frequent  night  escapades 
with  boys  is  now  a  trusted  industrious  helper  in  the  Re- 
public. Mr.  George  has  no  hesitation  in  giving  her  per- 
mission to  attend  the  midweek  services  at  the  village 
church  a  mile  away,  and  one  of  the  boys  is  despatched  at 
nine  o'clock  to  bring  her  safely  home.  When  she  first 
arrived  her  actions  were  so  uncouth  and  vulgar  as  to  at- 
tract the  notice  of  all.  The  boys  shunned  her,  and  one 
and  another  came  to  Mr.  George  in  confidence  to  say  that 
they  did  not  like  the  new  girl's  actions  and  would  have 
to  keep  an  eye  on  her.  Shortly  after,  one  of  the  girls  came 
expressing  the  same  opinion,  but  added,  *'  I  am  going  to 
try  and  win  her,  and  make  her  see  that  her  life  is  all  wrong." 
Under  the  influence  of  this  little  friend,  letters  written 
to  boys  were  never  sent,  and  an  honest  shame  and  pen- 
itence filled  her  and  she  was  saved  from  physical  and 
spiritual  ruin. 

Another  girl,  whose  mother  had  died,  was  sent  to  the 


ORPHANS  AND  DESTITUTE  CHILDREN  373 

Republic  by  her  father,  who  had  no  control  over  her.  At 
the  time  of  our  visit  she  had  just  returned  home  to  nurse 
her  father  through  an  illness  and  most  encouraging  letters 
had  been  received  from  her,  full  of  loving  solicitude  for 
her  father  and  a  desire  to  atone  for  her  years  of  wilful- 
ness'and  disobedience. 

The  woman  suffrage  question  at  the  Republic  is  es- 
sentially one  of  taxation  without  representation,  since  the 
girls  have  no  husbands,  fathers,  or  brothers  to  represent 
them  and  protect  their  interests  in  the  legislature,  and  the 
question  has  had  varying  fortunes.  On  the  first  of  July 
all  amendments  which  were  not  reenacted  were  formally 
declared  null  and  void,  so  that  the  woman  suffrage  law, 
being  necessarily  an  amendment  of  a  state  law,  passed 
through  a  yearly  crisis  and  struggle  for  existence.  The 
unfair  apportionment  of  an  imposed  tax  two  years  ago 
made  the  girls  petition  for  the  ballot  once  more,  and  at 
the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature  woman  suffrage  pre- 
vailed. 

The  latest  improved  ballot  is  used  at  all  their  elections. 
Boys  who  have  learned  the  value  of  the  ballot  at  the  Re- 
public will  not  lightly  give  up  their  privilege  of  casting 
their  personal  vote,  and  the  tactics  of  the  ward  politician 
will  be  much  better  understood  by  those  young  citizens 
than  by  their  ignorant  parents.  One  boy  gave  expression 
to  these  thoughts  when  he  said,  "  I  tell  youse,  I've  been  a 
citizen  meself,  an'  Jimmy  O'Brien  won't  never  lead  me 
around  by  de  nose  like  he  leads  me  fadder.  I  knows  a  ting 
or  two  about  politics  meself,  see !  " 

Laws  wise  and  otherwise  find  their  way  into  the  stat- 
ute book  of  the  Junior  Republic;  but  as  each  law  is 
strictly  enforced,  it  takes  but  a  short  time  to  test  the  wis- 
dom or  folly  of  a  new  measure.  At  first  very  lenient  pau- 
per laws  were  passed.  The  paupers  were  fed  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  state,  altho  in  a  humiliating  manner,  at  a 


374 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 


second  table  from  which  the  cloth  and  other  accessories 
had  been  removed,  and  portions  were  served  like  prison 
rations.  But  there  "were  some  boys  who  had  but  little 
self-respect,  and  as  long  as  the  food  was  plentiful,  they 
preferred  to  idle  away  their  time  and  be  dependent  upon 
the  state.  Having  no  income  they  were  practically  tax 
free  except  the  insignificant  poll-tax  which  is  levied  upon 
all.  It  was  not  long  before  the  industrious  citizens  and 
taxpayers  began  to  realize  the  expense  v/hich  idlers  in- 
curred to  the  state.  Finally  a  senator,  whose  own  parents 
at  home  were  wholly  dependent  upon  city  charity,  sub- 
mitted a  bill  to  the  legislature  to  the  effect  that  those 
who  would  not  work  should  not  eat.  The  lazy  poor  were 
thus  deprived  of  support,  but  those  who  through  illness 
were  unable  to  work  were  provided  with  meal  tickets. 

An  amusing  incident  happened  in  connection  with  the 
enforcement  of  this  law.  There  were  three  restaurants  at 
the  time  in  the  Republic,  one  furnishing  meals  for  fifteen 
cents,  another  for  twenty-five  cents,  and  a  third  an  elabo- 
rate fifty-cent  dinner.*  When  the  meal  tickets  were 
distributed,  they  simply  read,  "  Good  for  one  meal," 
not  designating  the  restaurant.  Of  course,  the  fifty- 
cent  restaurant  was  uniformly  patronized,  and  when 
the  hotel-keeper's  bill  was  rendered  to  the  government, 
there  was  hardly  money  enough  to  pay^  and  the  state  was 
in  sore  straits  for  a  time.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  this 
happened  but  once. 

Since  the  laws  of  New  York  State  are  their  models,  they 
may  not  exceed  the  state  fines  for  any  offense.  In  one 
case  the  legislature  passed  a  law  that  swearing,  or  the 
use  of  any  improper  language,  should  be  fined  $5.  But 
a  prisoner  arrested  on  this  charge  contested  the  validity 


*  In  all  references  to  money  in  this  article  the  coin  of  the  George  Junior 
Republic  is  the  standard  of  value.  These  coins  arc  made  of  tin,  and,  of 
course,  have  only  a  local  and  nominal  value. 


ORPHANS  AND  DESTITUTE  CHILDREN  375 

of  the  law,  since  the  laws  of  New  York  State  place  the 
fine  at  $1,  and  the  law  was  revised. 

A  heavy  fine  was  imposed  on  cigarette  smoking;  but 
nevertheless  boys  would  often  steal  away  beyond  the  po- 
liceman's beat,  and  indulge  this  lawless  habit.  Conse- 
quently an  amendment  was  passed,  which  made  a  citizen 
liable  to  arrest  and  punishment  if  the  smell  of  smoke  could 
be  detected  in  his  breath.  The  penalty  is  a  fine  from 
$1  to  $3,  or  from  one  to  three  days  in  the  workhouse. 

Gambling  of  any  sort  receives  no  quarter  from  the 
officials.  The  first  boy  caught  "  shooting  craps  "  was  a 
senator,  and  even  tho  he  pleaded  guilty,  the  judge  fined 
him  $25,  He  refused  to  pay.  He  lost  not  only  his  state 
position,  but  also  his  rights  of  citizenship,  and  was  obliged 
to  don  the  striped  suit  and  break  stone  at  five  cents  an 
hour.  One  night  as  Mr.  George  was  passing  down  the 
prison  corridor,  he  spoke  to  the  boy,  kindly  and  earnestly, 
and  advised  him  to  pay  up  and  get  out  of  prison.  "  No,  I 
won't  do  it,"  the  boy  answered;  and  then  with  the  ready 
wit  of  the  street  urchin,  he  added :  "  I  guess  I'll  take  the 
smallpox  and  break  out."  Some  days  later,  as  he  was 
breaking  stone,  he  threw  down  his  hammer,  threw  up  his 
hands  in  a  tragic  manner,  and  exclaimed :  "  I  surrender ! 
March  me  to  me  bank  account." 

When  we  reflect  that  these  laws  against  swearing,  im- 
purity, gambling,  and  smoking — vices  which  are  the  very 
life  of  the  criminal  classes — with  their  heavy  penalties  at- 
tached, are  of  the  boys'  own  making,  and  are  enforced  with 
a  rigor  which  bespeaks  a  strong  public  sentiment  against 
this  evil,  we  gain  some  idea  of  the  success  which  has  at- 
tended this  effort  at  self-government. 

The  laws  in  no  way  curtail  the  liberty  of  the  citizens. 
Times  for  retiring  at  night  or  rising  in  the  morning, 
are  not  matters  of  law.  Early  bed  hours  are  in  vogue, 
however,  because  of  the  healthy  weariness  following  a 


376  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

day  of  hard  work.  Early  rising  is  practiced  because  of  the 
requirements  of  employers,  and  because  the  hotel  pro- 
prietor objects  to  having  his  beds  occupied  at  the  expense 
of  an  airing.  The  frequent  visits  from  the  board  of  health 
make  him  apprehensive  of  a  fine. 

The  George  Junior  Republic  is  in  many  respects  a 
model  reformatory,  and  yet  it  has  few  of  the  failings  and 
disadvantages  which  characterize  the  ordinary  reformatory 
system.  Everything  is  as  unlike  an  institution  as  possible, 
and  the  citizens  resent  very  much  the  application  of  that 
term  to  their  enterprise.  The  laws  being  enacted  and  en- 
forced by  the  boys  themselves,  the  punishment  of  the  cul- 
prit is  never  laid  at  Mr.  George's  door. 

To  the  casual  visitor  this  system  might  seem  like  play- 
ing at  law-making;  but  it  is  far  from  play  to  the  boys. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  they  are  forced  to  abide  by 
their  laws,  and  feel  their  responsibility  of  legislating  for 
their  individual  interest  and  for  the  welfare  of  their  Re- 
public. Valuable  lessons  in  parliamentary  procedure  and 
in  debating,  and  in  caution  and  in  forethought,  are  learned 
in  the  Town  Meeting,  which  has  now  displaced  the  more 
cumbersome  Congress. 

It  is  instructive  as  well  as  interesting  to  notice  how  the 
questions  which  confront  our  greater  republic  come  up  for 
discussion  and  settlement  in  the  smaller.  Women's  suf- 
frage, free-trade  or  protection,  tariff,  trusts,  income  tax, 
free  "  tin,"  pauper  labor,  all  have  presented  them- 
selves. On  returning  from  the  village  some  boys 
brought  candies,  fruit,  etc.,  which  had  been  purchased  at 
cheap  rates,  or  had  been  presented  to  them  by  some  kind- 
hearted  farmer's  wife.  These  they  sold  to  their  fellows  at 
lower  prices  than  the  government  licensed  store  could 
afford  to  furnish  them.  The  storekeeper  appealed  to  the 
government,  and  a  tariff  of  thirty-five  per  cent,  was  laid  on 
all  imports. 


ORPHANS  AND  DESTITUTE  CHILDREN  377 

The  Republic  has  its  own  currency,  made  of  flat  pieces 
of  tin,  stamped,  George  Junior  Republic,  and  in  denom- 
inations from  one  dollar  down.  Silver,  nickel,  or  copper 
can  purchase  nothing  within  the  Republic.  The  Republic 
maintains  the  bank,  and  all  official  payments  are  made  by 
means  of  drafts  upon  it.  Two  per  cent,  interest  is  paid 
on  all  deposits,  and  any  citizen  who  has  accumulated  a 
little  sum,  may,  on  leaving  the  Republic,  have  it  redeemed 
in  U.  S.  coin  at  one-fifth  its  face  value. 

The  financial  system  of  the  Republic  is  based  upon 
wages  for  work.  Its  motto  is  "  Nothing  without  labor." 
The  government  lets  out  contracts  of  all  sorts, — farming, 
road  construction,  landscape  gardening,  hotel  keeping, 
etc.,  etc.,  and  the  contractors  hire  labor,  paying  different 
prices,  according  to  the  skill  of  the  workmen,  from  fifty 
cents  to  one  dollar  and  fifty  a  day.  Wages  are  paid  once 
a  week,  and  no  favors  are  shown  to  those  workmen  or 
government  officials  who  recklessly  spend  their  earnings 
the  first  few  days  of  the  week.  A  coarse  diet  and  a  harder 
bed  await  such  until  next  pay  day. 

An  excellent  little  paper,  The  Junior  Republic  Citizen, 
is  published  by  the  boys.  They  write  freely  for  it,  using 
their  own  language  and  spelling,  and  are  not  held  to  ac- 
count for  the  opinions  they  express.  It  is  issued  monthly 
and  contains  reports  of  census  and  "  police  blotter."  This 
is  one  of  the  marked  features  of  the  Republic. 

The  problem  of  a  congested  labor  market  has  never  had 
to  be  grappled  with  in  the  Republic.  There  is  work  for 
every  boy  who  will  work.  Some  boys,  preferring  their  own 
independent  enterprises,  have  started  barber-shops  and 
tailoring  establishments.  One  boy,  only  thirteen  years  old, 
being  hard  pressed  by  the  hotel  proprietor,  announced  a 
course  of  lectures  on  "  The  Minor  Lights  of  History," 
Miles  Standish,  Captain  John  Smith,  and  John  Brown, 
and  altho  he  set  his  prices  high  (single  lecture,  fifty  cents; 


378  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

course  tickets,  one  dollar),  the  hotel  corridor  was  filled 
all  three  lecture  nights. 

■Another  boy,  much  interested  in  natural  history,  made 
a  collection  of  insects,  cocoons,  nests,  nymphs,  etc.,  but 
his  companions  would  not  deign  to  notice  his  collection. 
One  day  he  announced  the  opening  of  a  "  Dime  Museum," 
and  at  the  appointed  hour  there  was  a  line  of  boys  reach- 
ing clear  to  the  police  station,  each  with  his  dime  in  his 
hand  waiting  for  admittance.  When  the  doors  were 
opened,  the  show  was  found  to  consist  of  this  same  ento- 
mological collection;  but  the  boys  had  paid  their  money, 
and  so  they  listened  attentively  to  the  interesting  ex- 
planations of  the  museum  proprietor,  and  afterwards 
voted  it  a  '*  huge  sjaccess." 

The  buildings  of  the  Republic  include :  ( i )  The  "  Re- 
public," containing  a  kitchen  and  two  restaurants,  a  li- 
brary, hotel,  and  *'garroot";  (2)  the  school-house,  bank, 
and  store;  (3)  the  court-house,  jail,  capitol,  post-office, 
store,  and  Waldorf  Hotel;  (4)  Carter  cottage  for  boys; 
(5)  Rockefeller  cottage  for  girls;  (6)  business  offices; 
(7)  hospital;  (8)  barn;  (9)  tool-house  and  work-shop; 
(10)  laundry  and  bath ;  (11)  dairy;  (12)  shoe  shop;  (13) 
a  chapel  has  also  been  promised.  Everything  is  exceed- 
ingly plain.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  feature  of  the  Re- 
public will  never  be  altered,  for  finer  surroundings  would 
only  breed  dissatisfaction  with  their  city  homes  and  teach 
lessons  of  extravagance.  Cleanliness  is  carefully  taught 
as  a  habit  to  be  practised  by  all  classes,  and  a  neglect  of 
this  virtue  may  bring  about  a  fine  from  the  Board  of 
Health. 

The  jail  is  no  play  house,  but  has  small  cells  with  veri- 
table bars  and  high  windows,  hard  slat  beds,  and  prison 
meals.  A  formidable  constable's  desk  stands  in  a  recess 
at  the  entrance,  while  almost  opposite  in  a  niche  is  a  little 
melodeon  for  use  ^  in  the  religious  services  held  weekly 


ORPHANS  AND  DESTITUTE  CHILDREN  379 

in  the  prison  corridor.  Upstairs  is  the  court  room,  con- 
taining, among  other  things,  a  trap  door  for  the  entrance 
of  the  prisoner,  an  imposing  high  desk  for  the  judge,  and 
a  juror's  bench.  There  is  a  small  space  railed  off  for  the 
witness  stand,  and  rows  of  seats  for  interested  listeners. 
The  sessions  of  the  court  are  most  orderly  and  impressive. 
The  pros  and  cons  are  carefully  weighed;  evidence  is 
called  for  in  its  proper  place,  and  most  heartstirring  ap- 
peals are  made  to  the  jury.  One  judge  walked  ten  miles 
to  Ithaca  and  back  again  that  he  might  attend  a  court 
session  and  learn  how  to  conduct  those  of  the  Republic 
with  proper  decorum.  Only  one  case  of  bribery  has  ever 
been  discovered,  and  the  guilty  officer  was  immediately 
deposed  and  suffered  disgrace  as  well  as  legal  penalties. 
The  rear  of  the  court  room  is  partitioned  off  into  "  law- 
yers' offices,"  and  bears  this  prohibitory  sign,  '*  Citizens 
not  allowed  to  climb  over  this  partition." 

It  is,  perhaps,  to  be  deplored  that  the  court  and  legal 
proceedings  have  such  a  prominent  place  in  the  Junior 
Republic,  but  the  fairness  of  the  judgments,  and  the  sub- 
mission of  the  guilty  to  the  punishments  imposed,  counter- 
act, to  some  degree,  this  unfortunate  feature.  The  police 
court  must,  inevitably,  play  a  large  part  in  the  lives  of 
such  children,  and  how  much  better  to  have  justice  and 
equity  demonstrated  than  bribery  and  harshness. 

Most  of  the  citizens  of  the  Junior  Republic  live  in 
boarding-houses  or  hotels.  These  latter  are  two  in  num- 
ber, the  "Republic  Hotel"  and  the  ''Waldorf,"  (which 
is  the  second  class  hotel).  The  accommodations  at  tfie 
"  Republic  "  are  of  two  grades ;  pies  and  cakes,  and  linen 
tablecloths  and  individual  chairs  go  with  the  twenty-five 
cent  meals.  The  '*  garroot "  boarders  are  served  in  a  sep- 
arate dining-room,  with  less  elaborate,  altho  none  the  less 
clean  surroundings.  The  sleeping  rooms  range  from  those 
hung  with  curtains  and  store-framed  pictures  to  those 


380  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

whose  only  charms  are  light  and  air.  "  The  garroot  "  has 
no  individual  rooms,  but  one  long  gabled  loft,  with  a  chest 
by  the  side  of  each  fellow's  bed  to  hold  his  wardrobe. 
Here  lodge  the  impecunious,  brought  to  this  pass  either 
by  the  love  of  play  or  by  fondness  for  candy  and  other 
luxuries.  Board  must  be  paid  in  advance,  and  prices  are 
higher,  of  course,  for  transients. 

A  new  plan  has  recently  been  put  into  operation.  .Two 
simple  cottages  have  been  built,  each  to  accommodate 
twelve  boys  or  girls,  who  constitute  a  family,  with  a 
motherly  woman  as  "  house  mother."  All  work  toward 
the  support  of  the  homes,  the  girls  doing  the  mending  and 
housework,  the  boys,  like  older  brothers,  supplying  the 
needful  money.  The  householders  pay  Mr  George  a  nom- 
inal rent.  One  cottage  has  recently  been  sold  to  eight  boys 
for  $1,200.  They  paid  $200  down,  and  Mr.  George  holds 
a  mortgage  for  the  remainder. 

There  is  a  library,  a  memorial  gift,  and  the  shelves  con- 
tain over  1,200  volumes:  fiction,  history,  science,  poetry, 
essays,  and  reference  and  religious  books,  with  some  juve- 
nile books  and  many  leading  periodicals.  The  most 
thumbed  books  of  all  are  those  which  treat  of  the  penal 
and  civil  code  of  New  York  State. 

The  problem  of  book  study  for  the  winter  residents  has 
given  Mr.  George  some  difficulty.  It  goes  without  saying 
that  all  the  citizens  are  in  need  of  education,  and  the  Re- 
public school  is  now  a  part  of  the  country  school  system 
of  the  State.  Attendance  upon  this  school  is  obligatory 
by  the  law  of  the  Republic,  and  a  truant  officer  gathers  in 
any  who  "  play  hookey,"  Several  members  of  the  Re- 
public attend  the  high  school  of  a  neighboring  village,  and 
three  have  now  entered  Cornell.  The  civil  service  ex- 
aminations, which  cover  all  the  ordinary  branches,  debar 
the  ignorant  and  the  inattentive  from  holding  the  coveted 
position   of   the   police   or   judge,    health   commissioner. 


ORPHANS  AND  DESTITUTE  CHILDREN  381 

sheriff,  or  any  other  appointive  office.  This  gives  im- 
portance and  attractiveness  to  "  education/'  which  the 
street  gamin  has  never  before  conceived  possible.  He 
learns  that  education  means  power. 

Church  and  State  are  separate  in  the  Junior  Republic, 
and  there  is  no  legislation  bearing  directly  on  religious 
matters,  but  the  founder  being  a  man  of  strong  religious 
convictions,  such  an  atmosphere  of  godliness  emanates 
from  "  the  capitol  "  that  the  citizens  are  unconsciously 
affected  by  it.  Roman  Catholics  attend  a  little  Catholic 
church  near  by,  and  Protestants  go  to  the  village  Metho- 
dist church  and  Sunday-school.  The  citizens  have  also 
organized  among  themselves  a  Christian  Endeavor  So- 
ciety, and  it  would  be  hard  to  filid  a  more  earnest  little 
band,  altho  of  opposing  creeds  and  diverse  beliefs.  Little 
Roman  Catholic  children  attend  mass  in  the  morning,  and, 
perhaps,  lead  or  take  part  in  a  regular  Christian  Endeavor 
prayer-meeting  in  the  afternoon.  A  falling  off  in  church 
attendance  was  noticed  at  one  time,  and  the  legislature 
provided  that  a  missionary  should  be  appointed,  whose 
duty  it  should  be  to  visit  delinquents,  urge  upon  them  the 
duty  and  privilege  of  church  worship,  and  to  warn  the 
erring. 

Especially  solemn  and  impressive  are  the  meetings  held 
in  the  jail  corridor  for  the  prisoners.  In  the  midst  of  one 
meeting  a  little  girl  was  seen  to  slip  out  quietly,  and  in  a 
few  moments  returned  with  her  arms  full  of  Bibles  and 
prayer-books.  Going  to  each  cell,  she  discriminated  be- 
tween the  Protestant  and  the  Roman  Catholic  prisoners, 
giving  the  former  a  Bible  and  the  latter  a  prayer-book, 
with  a  tender  word  of  encouragement  to  read  it. 

Family  prayers  are  daily  held,  led  sometimes  by  one 
of  the  older  helpers,  but  as  often  by  a  citizen.  God's  bless- 
ing is  also  asked  at  table,  usually  by  one  of  their  own 
number.   . 


382  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

We  believe  that  Mr.  George  has  taken  a  wise  course  in 
the  religious  conduct  of  his  miniature  republic.  His 
helpers  are  all  Christians,  who  have  entered  upon  the  work 
with  the  missionary  spirit — an  earnest  desire  to  win  these 
boys  and  girls  for  Christ.  Six  days  in  the  week,  at  the 
carpenter  bench,  or  on  the  farm,  or  over  the  stove,  or  at 
the  machine,  they  patiently  help  to  solve  the  knotty  prob- 
lems of  manufacture  or  cultivation,  and  on  the  seventh 
set  an  example  of  restful  worship  and  meditation  which 
is  not  lost  on  their  young  charges.  Quiet  heart  to  heart 
talks  are  continually  bearing  fruit  in  the  little  Republic, 
unto  life  eternal.  If  attendance  upon  church  service  were 
a  matter  of  compulsion,  when  everything  else  is  free,  or 
if  the  church  were  given  prominence  through  being  con- 
stituted a  State  church,  the  present  well-balanced  condition 
of  things  could  not  exist. 

Mr.  George  has  expressed  the  conviction  that  any  one 
of  his  several  older  citizens,  who  have  spent  two  or  three 
years  with  him,  would  be  thoroughly  competent  to  superin- 
tend another  republic,  and  make  it  in  every  way  as  great 
a  success  as  Freeville.  If  in  making  this  statement  he  has 
carefully  taken  into  account  the  far-reaching  religious  in- 
fluences of  the  leader,  the  confidence  and  esteem  in  which 
he  holds  these  boys  must  be  very  great. 

Mr.  George  says  that  there  has  never  been  a  boy,  who 
has  stayed  at  the  Republic  as  long  as  he  (Mr.  George) 
felt  he  should,  who  has  not  left  a  thoroughly  upright,  self- 
dependent  citizen,  having  learned  lessons  of  obedience  to 
law  and  respect  for  the  rights  of  others.  Of  course,  some 
are  taken  away  by  their  parents  or  guardians  before  they 
are  ripe  for  dismissal,  and  a  few  become  rebellious  and 
return  of  their  own  free  will  to  their  idle  city  life.  Who 
can  estimate  the  work  this  one  little  Republic  is  doing,  in 
converting  paupers  and  criminals  into  citizens  who  make 


ORPHANS  AND  DESTITUTE  CHILDREN  383 

for  righteousness  and  peace,  and  girls  whose  feet  were 
already  turned  toward  hell,  into  women  of  chaste,  indus- 
trious lives? 

Two  years  ago  Mr.  George  took  one  of  the  younger 
citizens  to  Brooklyn  to  speak  in  behalf  of  the  Republic. 
The  boy  communicated  his  enthusiasm  to  his  audience  in 
a  wonderful  way.  At  the  close  a  lady,  with  purse  in  hand, 
pressed  up  to  him  and  offered  it  to  the  little  speaker.  Mr. 
George,  from  his  position  in  the  audience,  noticed  her  turn 
away  chagrined.  In  a  few  moments  she  came  to  him, 
saying,  "  Won't  you  take  this  money  and  use  it  for  that 
boy."  '*  Wouldn't  he  accept  it?  "  asked  Mr.  George.  "  I 
never  received  such  a  rebuke  in  my  life,"  replied  the  lady ; 
"  when  I  offered  it  to  him,  he  said,  *  I  can  not  take  it. 
Madam,  I  have  done  nothing  to  earn  it/  " 

When  the  previous  history  of  some  of  the  boys  is 
known,  the  visitor's  most  natural  question  is:  Have  you 
ever  had  to  expel  any  because  of  incorrigibility?  The 
question  always  calls  forth  the  same  reply :  "  The  worse 
the  boy,  the  more  his  need  of  the  Republic  and  its  influ- 
ences.  No;  we  never  willingly  let  go  of  our  bad  boys." 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  account  that  the  Jun- 
ior Republic  is  indeed  a  model  reformatory.  Amid  whole- 
some surroundings,  and  under  judicious  Christian  man- 
agement, the  boys  and  girls  are  taught  self-control,  self- 
help,  obedience  to  law,  the  blessing  of  service  to  others, 
and  are  given  every  opportunity  to  become  honorable 
Christian  citizens  in  our  larger  republic. 

The  principles  upon  which  the  Junior  Republic  are 
founded  are  sound,  and  are  the  outcome  of  years  of  study 
of  the  city  street  gamin;  but  even  with  such  a  complete 
system,  not  every  one  could  successfully  carry  on  such  a 
republic.  The  principles  of  self-help  and  self-govern- 
ment among  the  boys  must  be  wisely  recognized  by  a 


384  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

Christian  governor,  and  a  consistent  course  of  non-inter- 
ference practised  at  the  same  time  that  a  vigilant  outlook 
is  kept. 

Some  minor  phases  of  the  Republic's  life  are  still  in 
their  experimental  stage,  but  the  Republic  itself  has  passed 
beyond  that  stage  and  has  clearly  vindicated  its  right  to 
exist,  and  to  be  supported  by  the  interest  and  prayers  and 
gifts  of  the  Christian  people  of  our  land.  It  is  philan- 
thropic work  without  any  of  the  pauperizing  tendencies 
of  ordinary  philanthropy,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  does 
away  with  the  opportunity  of  self-gratulation,  which  mars 
so  much  of  our  charitable  work.  The  sense  of  personal 
responsibility  for  law  and  order,  is  visible  in  each  sun- 
burned freckled  face  of  the  citizens,  and  boys  who  have 
had  a  common  education  in  dodging  police,  will  legislate 
and  oversee  with  a  sharpness  in  which  the  ordinary  adult 
is  pitifully  deficient. 

If  the  Republic  stopped  short  of  being  a  Christian  en- 
terprise, there  would  be  no  opportunity  for  the  highest 
forms  of  altruism.  With  pauper  laws  that  are  inexorable, 
with  competition  that  is  sharp,  altho  friendly,  with  a  de- 
cided spirit  of  self-interest  and  preservation,  there  would 
be  developed  only  a  high  sense  of  justice  and  a  healthy 
regard  for  the  rights  of  others.  But,  lifted  to  the  plane 
of  Christianity,  the  opportunities  of  visiting  the  sick  and 
the  imprisoned,  the  faithful  exercise  of  guardianship  and 
the  repression  of  covetousness  and  jealousy,  all  give  op- 
portunity for  the  exercise  of  the  highest  altruism  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  teaching  of  Christ. 

It  is  very  evident  that  the  love  which  Mr.  George  has 
for  his  boys  and  girls  is  heartily  reciprocated.  No  thief 
ever  steals  from  him.  The  tender  accent  they  give  to  the 
word  "  Daddy  "  when  they  speak  of  him,  and  the  confident 
manner  in  which  they  approach  him  to  ask  a  question,  to 
tell  him  of  some  loss,  or  inquire  for  a  missing  companion  i 


ORPHANS  AND  DESTITUTE  CHILDREN  385 

the  alacrity  with  which  they  run  on  Httle  errands  for  him, 
and  the  stream  of  evening  callers  to  bid  him  good-night 
before  retiring,  all  speak  loudly  of  the  love  which  they 
bear  toward  him.  As  the  last  one  bade  him  good-night 
and  left  him,  with  a  look  of  satisfaction,  Mr,  George 
turned  to  us  a  beaming  face  and  said,  "  I  wouldn't  change 
places  with  any  one  in  the  world;  I  believe  I'm  the  hap- 
piest man  alive." 

We  subjoin  an  interesting  letter  published  in  The  Chris- 
tian, Jan.  4,  1900,  on  a  visit  to  Scotland's  orphans,  at  Mr. 
Quarrier's  village,  Bridge-of-Weir. 

A  group  of  little  ones  passed  the  house,  their  happy  faces 
turning  radiant  at  the  sight  of  Mrs.  Findlay,  who  threw  hand- 
kisses  to  them,  saying,  "  These  are  some  of  our  infant  orphans." 
"  Why,  you  have  no  uniforms,  then?  "  said  1.  "  No,  father  does 
not  believe  in  uniform  dressing.  It  puts  the  stamp  of  pauperism 
upon  the  children  whom  we  wish  to  save  for  society.  We  do 
not  like  them  to  think  that  they  are  different  from  the  others. 
Each  child  is  dealt  with  individually,  watched  and  observed,  and 
when  the  time  comes  for  choosing  a  trade  or  a  profession,  we 
know  something  of  the  proclivities  of  each." 

Anxious  that  no  individuality  should  be  lost  sight  ol  Mr. 
Quarrier  avoids  uniformity  even  in  buildings.  Of  the  fifty-seven 
Homes  which  form  this  "  City  of  the  Young,"  each  presents  the 
aspect  of  a  residential  villa,  with  distinct  architectural  features 
of  its  own,  and  a  garden-plot  adjoining  it.  Prizes  are  given  to 
the  Homes  that  have  the  best-kept  gardens.  This  system  was  first 
objected  to  on  the  ground  that  it  involved  expenditure;  but  in 
the  course  of  time  the  founder  was  able  to  show  that  taste  and 
beauty,  as  well  as  variety,  could  be  effected  within  the  limits  of 
a  strict  and  true  economy.  For  ii2  a  year,  on  an  average,  an 
orphan  is  housed,  fed,  and  educated. 

The  ten-roomed  Homes  are  occupied  by  thirty  inmates  or  less. 
Girls  are  under  the  supervision  of  a  mother.  A  married  couple 
has  the  charge  of  the  boys,  who,  in  their  spare  time,  are  taught 
a  trade  by  the  father. 

As  this  was  the  usual  half-holiday,  we  missed  seeing  the  chil- 
dren at  work  in  the  Homes ;  but,  being  shown  round,  could  easily 
imagine  their  beehive-life  during  the  week.     From  James  Arthur, 


386  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

an  iron  brig  of  over  120  ft.  in  length,  the  generous  gift  of  a  widow 
lady  in  memory  of  her  husband,  we  saw  some  of  the  juvenile 
crew  playing  football  by  the  banks  of  the  river  Gryffe.  They  re- 
side with  their  captain  on  board  the  brig,  erected  on  a  firm  bed 
of  concrete,  and  are  taught  navigation,  as  far  as  it  can  be  taught, 
on  dry  land.  Mr.  Quarrier  hopes  thus  to  raise  up  some  mis- 
sionary seamen. 

In  passing  some  ruins  we  learned  that,  owing  to  the  break-out 
of  fire  on  October  19,  all  the  workshops  had  been  destroyed,  in- 
cluding the  laundry,  bakery,  joiner's,  shoemaker's,  printer's,  and 
tailor's  shops. 

At  the  great  store — where,  as  everywhere,  cleanliness,  neatness, 
and  order  are  observed — forty-eight  dozen  loaves  of  bread  pass 
over  the  counter  every  day,  and  the  total  per  month  is  about  eight 
tons  of  flour,,  two  and  a-half  tons  of  meal,  and  one  ton  of  sugar. 
Much  of  the  wearing  apparel  is  sent  in  by  kind  friends,  but  the 
largest  part  is  manufactured  on  the  premises.  "  The  Lord  will 
provide  "  is  the  motto  carved  in  stone  over  the  entrance  to  the 
building. 

With  Mr.  Quarrier  it  was  trusting  in  the  Lord  all  the  way 
through.  Without  ever  applying  directly  to  anybody,  or  asking 
help  from  bazaars  or  entertainments,  he  always  had  his  needs 
provided   in  due   season.     Here  is  his   testimony: — 

"  We  passed  through  many  a  sore  trial.  We  were  often  short 
of  money,  but  never  needed  to  stint  food  to  our  children  for  lack 
of  provisions,"  said  he,  as  we  sat  down  by  the  fireside.  "  This 
work  is  a  standing  rebuke  to  those  who  deny  a  prayer-hearing 
and  a  prayer-answering  God." 

Yes,  truth  is  stranger  than  fiction.  There  is  much  more  ro- 
mance in  the  life  of  a  child  of  God  than  there  is  in  the  most 
exotic  imagination  of  a  novelist.  Let  us  listen  to  him  as  he  re- 
calls the  principal  points  in  his  career. 

He  knew  what  property  was,  and  what  it  meant  to  lose  a  father 
in  early  life.  Feeling  keenly  in  his  own  experience  the  lot  of 
others,  he  made,  like  Abraham  Lincoln,  only  much  earlier  in  life, 
a  resolution  which  he  never  forgot :  "  Mother,  when  I  am  a  big 
man  I  shall  build  a  home  for  orphans  just  like  me."  This  was 
said  one  day  in  the  High  Street  of  Glasgow  fifty-eight  years  ago. 
Years  rolled  by,  and  the  little  boy  was  becoming  a  successful  busi- 
ness man,  when  he  took  the  first  step  towards  the  accomplishment 
of  his  childish  desire,  by  establishing,  in  1864,  the  Glasgow  Shoe- 


ORPHANS  AND  DESTITUTE  CHILDREN  387 

black  Brigade,  which  had  for  its  object  the  gathering  in  and  as- 
sisting of  the  little  street  arabs  of  Glasgow. 

The  work  grew,  and  seven  years  later  the  Lord  sent  him,  in 
answer  to  prayer,  £2,000,  which  enabled  him  to  open  the  first  Or- 
phan's Home  in  Renfew  Lane.  It  was  an  old  workshop,  where 
some  thirty  orphans  were  gathered  in  and  cared  for.  "  How 
many  did  you  get  in  the  first  day?"  asked  my  husband,  at  this 
juncture  of  the  story.  ''Only  one;  and  he  was  hesitating  as  to 
whether  he  should  come  or  not.  We  had  to  coax  him  in.  After 
giving  him  a  bath  and  something  to  eat,  we  put  him  to  bed,  and 
then  he  said :  '  Oh,  that's  grand,  sir ! '  " 

The  City  Home  soon  became  too  narrow  for  many  applicants. 
Mr.  Quarrier,  wishing  to  find  a  place  for  building  a  series  of 
Homes — not  farther  than  three  miles  out  of  Glasgow — made 
arrangements  for  the  purchase  of  twenty  acres,  which  were  to 
cost  i6,ooo;  but  something  happened  by  which  the  negotiations 
were  set  aside.  A  friend  mentioned  the  present  site,  but  was 
met  with  the  objection  that  it  was  too  far  out  from  Glasgow. 
Yet,  on  visiting  it,  he  could  see  at  once  that  it  answered  his  own 
ideal  of  what  was  needed,  far  more  than  the  other.  He  lifted 
up  his  heart  and  voice  and  said :  "  Lord,  this  will  do.  Thy  will 
is  far  better  than  mine,  and  I  accept  it  thankfully."  He  purchased 
forty  acres  at  a  cost  of  £3,560  and  the  change  to  Bridge  of 
Weir  was  made  in  1876.  In  1878  the  first  building  in  which  were 
combined  home,  church,  and  school,  was  finished.  The  present 
area  consists  of  106  acres,  and  during  the  past  year  there  were 
over  1,300  children  at  the  Homes. 

As  the  work  became  more  and  more  known,  people  ceased  to 
call  Mr.  Quarrier  an  Utopian.  Friends  were  raised  for  his 
schemes,  and  contributions  came  in  from  all  parts  of  the  world, 
varying  in  amount  from  the  widow's  mite  to  the  merchant  prince's 
thousands.  One  day  Mr.  Quarrier  found  an  old  envelope  con- 
taining bank-notes  to  the  value  of  ii,700,  with  anonymous  request 
to  build  a  home  called  Sagittarius.  Another  time  he  received 
a  donation  of  £500  saved  in  pennies  by  a  poor  widow. 

Then,  again,  one  day  a  Glasgow  washerwoman  sent  for  him 
to  tell  him  that  she  wished  to  give  him  her  fortune.  She  had 
been  a  hard-working  woman  all  her  life,  spending  most  of  her 
time  at  the  wash-tub.  Of  an  economical  turn  of  mind,  she  put 
penny  to  penny  and  shilling  to  shilling  for  a  rainy  day.  Long 
years  of  saving  and  compound  interest  accumulated  her  earnings 


388  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

to  the  handsome  sum  of  over  £1,400.  She  was  an  unconverted 
woman.  God  moved  her  heart  at  the  right  time  for  the  Homes 
to  be  provided  with  pure  water  by  means  of  her  money,  and  for 
her  to  receive  the  Water  of  Life  through  the  instrumentality  of 
Mr.  Quarrier.  She  died  a  few  days  after  the  donation  act,  with 
the  words  trembling  upon  her  lips,  "  Just  as  I  am,  without  one 
plea." 

These  are  only  a  few  instances  of  the  wonderful  ways  in  which 
funds  came  in  just  at  the  very  moment  they  were  needed.  If 
they  were  not  coming  in,  the  servant  of  God  would  understand 
that  he  was  not  called  to  do  the  work  that  lay  on  his  heart.  He 
never  undertakes  anything  without  the  necessary  amount  in  hand ; 
consequently  there  is  not  a  penny  of  debt  upon  any  of  the  Homes. 

Until  recently  Mr.  Quarrier  sent  bands  of  boys  to  Canada ;  but, 
owing  to  an  act  passed  by  the  Ontario  Government,  which  came 
into  force  in  September,  1897,  the  outlet  to  the  Dominion  has  for 
the  present  been  closed.  This  law  prohibits  children  from  being 
taken  into  the  province  without  a  descriptive  licence,  which  is 
degrading  to  the  children,  as  it  reminds  them  and  others  of  their 
antecedents.  Under  these  circumstances  Mr.  Quarrier  has  re- 
solved to  make  provision  for  a  longer  residence  in  the  Homes, 
thus  securing  for  them  a  more  thorough  training  for  trades  and 
domestic  service  at  home.  This  will  require  the  erection  of  ten 
additional  Homes,  which  will  cost  £2,000  each. 

Since  our  visit  the  twenty-eighth  annual  meeting  was  held, 
on  November  22,  at  the  Christian  Institute,  Glasgow,  under  the 
presidency  of  the  Hon.  the  Lord  Provost,  Mr.  Samuel  Chisholm, 
and   attended   by   a   large   and   influential   company   of   friends. 

W.  M. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

THE  GROWTH  OF  BELIEF  IN   "  DIVINE  HEALING  " 

For  about  half  a  century,  the  inquiry  has  excited  in- 
creasing interest,  "  How  far  may  we  carry  to  the  Lord 
bodily  ailments,  in  prayer  and  faith  for  healing?"  A 
body  of  believers,  both  numerous  and  respectable,  affirm 
belief  in  divine  healing  as  a  truth  taught  in  the  Word, 
and  as  a  fact  of  their  own  experience. 

There  are  those  who  sympathize  with  such  views ;  others 
who  either  doubt  or  deny  and  reject  all  such  notions  and 
experiences  as  illusive  and  delusive;  and  others  who  feel 
neither  sympathy  nor  antipathy,  but  apathy;  hesitating  to 
dispute  such  testimony,  yet  ready  to  take  no  definite  po- 
sition. 

Is  it  possible  to  find  a  firm  standing-place,  and  form  an 
opinion,  clear,  reasonable  and  scriptural  ? 

There  is  a  Scriptural  basis  for  the  doctrine  of  divine 
healing,  in  answer  to  prayer.  The  doubt  concerns  its 
present  application.  That  the  "  prayer  of  faith  shall  save 
the  sick,"  admits  no  more  question  than  the  incarnation, 
atonement,  or  any  other  truth,  explicitly  taught  in  the 
Word.  But,  we  need  to  guard  this  admission  by  a  few 
careful  limitations,  such  as  the  following: 

1.  Disease  is  treated  in  the  Bible  as  one  of  the  conse- 
quences of  sin,  and  one  of  those  "  works  of  the  devil " 
which  Christ  came  to  destroy.  (Job  ii,  7;  Luke  xiii,  16; 
I  John  iii,  8.) 

2.  Disease  is  commonly  represented  as  a  judicial  in- 
fliction from  God  in  consequence  of  sin;  the  promise  of, 

389 


390  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

at  least,  comparative  immunity  from  it  is  attached  to 
obedience ;  and  its  removal  is  conditional  upon  repentance 
and  reformation.  (Ex.  xv,  25,  26;  Deut.  vii,  15;  xxviii, 
27-35;  Psalm  xci,  5-8;  cv,  37;  Isaiah  xxxiii,  24;  2 
Chron.  vi,  28-30.) 

3.  Healing  power  is  not  ascribed  to  remedial  agencies, 
but  always  primarily  to  God.  Remedies  may  conduce  to 
the  result,  but  are  inadequate  without  His  blessing. 
Hence,  Asa  is  disapproved  because  his  primary  reliance 
was  on  the  physicians,  and  not  on  God.  (2  Chron.  xvi, 
12-13;  Ex.  XV,  26;  Psalm  ciii,  3;  2  Chron.  xxxvi,  16 
[margin]  ;  Jer.  xxx,  17;   Deut.  xxxii,  3^.) 

4.  The  power  to  forgive  sins  and  the  power  to  heal 
disease  are  so  associated  that  one  is  used  to  confirm  and  es- 
tablish the  other.     (Psalm  ciii,  2,  3,  4;   Mark  ii,  5-10.) 

5.  Miracles  of  healing  were,  next  to  his  teaching,  the 
conspicuous  feature  of  our  Lord's  earthly  life,  inseparably 
linked  with  His  atoning  work.  Isa.  liii,  4-5,  is  quoted  in 
Matt,  viii,  16,  17.  The  circumstances  are  specially  signifi- 
cant. In  this  "  Scriptura  "  Miraculosa  of  Matthew,  a  com- 
prehensive array  of  miracles  of  healing  is  presented ;  and, 
in  the  midst  of  the  account,  no  reference  being  made  to 
the  typical  character  of  disease  or  the  spiritual  application 
of  Christ's  atoning  work,  the  quotation  occurs :  "  That  it 
might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  Isaiah  the  prophet : 
Himself  took  our  infirmities,  and  bore  our  sicknesses." 
The  previous  verse  contains  an  epitome  of  Christ's  healing 
works,  and  thus  connects  them  with  this  prediction.  If 
the  quotation  has  no  reference  to  bodily  infirmity  and 
sickness,  what  is  its  pertinence  or  connection?  These 
miracles  of  bodily  healing  are  treated  as  a  fulfilment  of 
that  prophecy,  as  though  He,  who  "  bare  our  sins  "  some- 
how also  bare  our  sickness. 

6.  Miracles  of  healing  were  among  the  signs  which 


BELIEF  IN  "  DIVINE  HEALING  "         391 

were  to  follow  those  that  believe,  as  part  of  the  witness  of 
the  gospel's  power,  and  of  the  glory  of  its  triumph.  (Mark 
xvi,  15,  18;  John  xiv,  12,  etc.) 

7.  Divine  healing  continued  to  be  wrought  through  the 
apostolic  age;  nor  is  there  a  hint  of  any  purpose  of  our 
Lord  that  these  displays  of  divine  energy  should  ever 
cease;  and,  as  the  New  Testament  nears  completion, 
prayer  for  the  sick  is  enjoined  as  a  means  of  divine  heal- 
ing. (John  xiv,  12;  Mark  x,  51,  52;  vi,  13;  Acts  ii,  43; 
iii,  6,  7;  iv,  30;  V,  15 ;  ix,  40,  41 ;  xiv,  8-10;  xix,  12,  and 
James  v,  14.) 

8.  It  can  not  be  proven  that  such  healing  has  ever  wholly 
ceased.  It  may  have  declined,  in  proportion  to  the  decline 
of  evangelical  faith,  evangelistic  activity,  unworldliness  of 
life  and  power  in  prayer;  but  competent  witnesses  testify 
that  healing,  in  answer  to  prayer  has,  to  some  degree,  been 
found  in  every  age.  Especially  do  "  signs  ",  similar  to 
those  of  primitive  days  appear  to  have  been  wrought  by 
devoted  missionaries  and  their  simple  converts,  where  the 
gospel  has  been  brought  into  contact  with  a  people  rude, 
unimpressible,  ignorant  and  in  conditions,  similar  to  those 
which  prevailed  when  it  was  first  preached  and  which 
seemed  to  justify  the  expectation  that  God  would  give 
"  boldness  "  to  His  servants  in  preaching,  "  by  stretching 
forth  His  hand  to  heal."  These  statements  were  not  gen- 
erally doubted  by  believers,  until  zeal  to  overthrow  the 
"  faith-cure  delusion  "  led  to  rash  attempts  to  prove  that 
all  supernatural  signs  long  since  answered  their  purpose 
and  entirely  ceased;  and  so,  classed  with  miracles,  they 
have  been  treated  as  impossible,  on  whatsoever  testimony 
supported.  Such  a  position  is  almost  identical  with  that 
of  the  deist,  Hume,  whose  name  is  linked  with  Gibbon, 
Bolingbroke,  Rousseau  and  Voltaire,  as  a  deadly  foe  of 
our  faith. 


392  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

This  is  a  question,  first,  of  scripture  testimony,  and, 
secondly,  of  trustworthy  evidence;  on  such  grounds  the 
issue  should  be  tried. 

Who  are  the  witnesses  ?  Christlieb  writes,  in  his  volume 
on  "  Modern  Infidelity,"  p.  332,  "  In  the  history  of  modern 
missions,  we  find  many  wonderful  occurrences,  which  un- 
mistakably remind  us  of  the  apostolic  age.  *  * .  In  both  pe- 
riods, there  are  similar  hindrances  to  be  overcome  in  the 
heathen  world,  and  similar  palpable  confirmations  of  the 
Word  are  needed  to  convince  the  dull  sense  of  men."  He 
instances  Hans  Egede,  pioneer  in  Greenland,  who,  finding 
that  his  hearers,  like  many  in  the  time  of  Christ,  had  a 
perception  only  for  bodily  relief,  sought  with  prayers  and 
tears  the  gift  of  healing  to  prove  to  them  the  power  of  the 
Redeemer  whom  he  preached ;  then  ventured  in  the  name 
of  Christ,  to  lay  his  hands  upon  the  sick,  and  scores  of 
them  were  made  whole.  Similar  facts  are  recorded  of  the 
Moravian  missionaries,  Spangenberg  and  Zeisberger;  of 
the  Rhenish  Mission  in  South  Africa  in  1858,  in  the  me- 
moir of  Kleinschmidt,  and  of  Nommensen  in  Sumatra. 

Luther,  after  wrestling  in  prayer  at  the  bedside  of  the 
dying  Melancthon,  said  "  Philip,  be  of  good  cheer,  thou 
shalt  not  die,"  and,  from  that  hour,  Melancthon  revived. 
Bengel  records  the  case  of  a  girl  in  Leonberg,  immediately 
healed  by  the  prayer  of  faith,  whose  case  was  examined 
and  publicly  certified  as  genuine.  Spurgeon,  in  review 
of  the  testimony  to  supernatural  power  in  the  institutions, 
founded  by  Franke,  Falk,  Stilling,  Gossner,  Miiller, 
Fleidner,  Harms,  Wichern,  Dorothea  Trudell,  etc.,  desig- 
nated these  believers  as  "  modern  workers  of  miracles." 
He  declared  that  he  had  seen  unquestionable  instances  of 
divine  healing  in  answer  to  prayer,  but  had  not  given 
them  publicity,  "  lest  the  minds  of  men  should  be  unduly 
turned  from  spiritual  healing  to  the  relief  of  bodily 
disease." 


BELIEF  IN  "  DIVINE  HEALING  "         393 

Rev.  Dr.  Burr,  in  "  Ad  Fidem,"  discussing  "  Modem 
Signs,"  says  to  unbelievers  who  clamor  for  present  ex- 
amples of  supernatural  power,  ''  I  am  able  to  present  to 
you  substantially  just  such  examples  of  the  personal  in- 
tervention of  God  among  men  as  you  ask.  You  shall  have 
examples  belonging  to  your  own  time  and  sphere."  Then 
giving  thirteen  pages  to  answers  to  prayer,  he  says,  "  they 
are  divine  actions,  as  truly  such  as  any  which  under  the 
great  name  of  miracles  are  attributed  to  the  world's  early 
ages.  We  do  not  choose  to  call  them  '  miracles,'  But, 
for  all  that,  they  are  direct  divine  interpositions,  and  can 
no  more,  in  accordance  with  the  scientific  principles  of 
evidence,  be  ascribed  to  any  natural  source,  than  could 
the  sundering  of  the  Red  Sea  under  the  outstretched  arm 
of  Moses." 

C.  K.  Studd,  Stanley  Smith  and  others,  of  the  famous 
"  Cambridge  Band,"  were  peculiarly  anointed  of  God,  and 
great  power  attended  their  prayers.  In  Pekin,  an  epilep- 
tic, regarded  as  incurable,  was  by  the  physicians  them- 
selves indicated  as  a  good  subject  for  the  experiment  of 
what  prayer  can  do,  where  medicine  fails.  Mr.  Stanley 
Smith  and  Dr.  MacKenzie  anointed  him  and  prayed  over 
him,  and  he  was  perfectly  restored. 

Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon,  of  Boston,  became  personally  ac- 
quainted with  unquestionable  cases  of  God's  healing  in 
answer  to  prayer ;  as  for  instance,  a  slave  to  opium,  who, 
in  1876,  during  Mr.  Moody's  meetings  in  Boston,  in  great 
mental  distress,  begged  Christians  to  pray  for  his  deliver- 
ance, believing  that,  without  the  direct  power  of  God,  his 
case  was  hopeless.  A  few  gathered  round  him,  and  earn- 
estly besought  God  for  him.  He  never  afterward  felt  the 
least  craving  for  opium,  and  became  a  prominent  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  secretary.  Dr.  Gordon  had  a  friend,  a  returned  mis- 
sionary, whose  son  had  a  cancer  in  the  lower  jaw,  and  the 
removal  of  the  jaw  was  the  only  hope  of  saving  his  life. 


394  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

He  was  at  the  hospital,  and  the  next  day  was  set  for  the 
operation.  The  evening  previous,  fervent  prayer  was  of- 
fered. Dr.  Gordon's  mind  was  impressed  that  the  Lord 
might  be  expected  to  interpose  in  behalf  of  this  young 
believer,  the  son  of  a  devoted  missionary;  he  invited  the 
afflicted  father  to  his  house,  and  sat  up  with  him  till  mid- 
night, conversing  and  praying  over  this  matter.  The 
father  then  resolved  to  cast  himself  and  his  boy  wholly  on 
God,  and  the  next  morning  the  lad  was  brought  to  Dr. 
Gordon's  house  and  was  pointed  to  Christ  as  his  healer. 
His  mind  became  inibued  with  the  conviction  that  God 
was  able  and  willing  to  heal  him,  and  the  directions  in 
James  v,  14,  15  were  literally  followed.  The  jaw  entirely 
healed,  not  a  trace  of  the  cancer  could,  after  a  few  weeks, 
be  found ;  and  even  the  teeth,  which  had  been  .loosened, 
were  again  held  tightly  in  the  jaw,.  In  Pastor  Blumhardt's 
Prayer  cure,  a  few  hours  from  Tubingen  in  Germany, 
both  body  and  soul  are  restored  to  wholeness  in  answer 
to  prayer,  and  the  only  remedy  applied  is  that  divine  pan- 
acea, the  Gospel. 

9.  Sickness  being  obviously  included  among  what  the 
Bible  calls  "  God's  chastenings  "  (Hebrew  xii),  it  is  plain 
that,  so  far  as  this  fatherly  discipline  has  in  view  the  cor- 
rection of  faults  and  the  rebuke  of  sin,  the  only  remedy 
must  be,  repentance  and  reformation. 

Physical  suffering  may  be  classed  under  three  heads : 

1.  Organic  penalty,  due  to  violation  of  natural  laws, 
including  hereditary  infirmity  or  diseased  tendency. 

2.  Physical  retribution,  or  punishment  for  violations  of 
moral  law. 

3.  Divine  chastisement  or  fatherly  correction,-  not  for 
judgment,  but  for  weaning  us  from  this  world  and  all 
other  idols.  This  is  limited  to  children  of  God  by 
faith. 

4.  Educative  suffering,  to  ripen  such  virtues  as  implicit 


BELIEF  IN  "  DIVINE  HEALING  "         395 

faith,  patience,  unmurmuring  submission,  and  sympathy 
with  sorrow. 

So  far  as  bodily  disease  or  infirmity  is  the  organic  re- 
sult of  sin,  a  judgment  on  sin,  or  a  correction  for  faults, 
resort  to  medicine,  instead  of  repentance,  evades  the  whole 
issue.  If  natural  laws  have  been  transgressed  by  excesses, 
over-eating,  intemperate  drinking,  overworking,  reckless 
exposure,  irregular  habits,  neglect  of  sleep  and  of  Sabbath 
rest,  God  uses  the  scourge  of  nature  to  whip  us  into  obedi- 
ence to  the  laws  of  health.  Medicine  may  bring  temporary 
relief;  but,  if  the  violation  of  physical  law  continues,  we 
only  invite  a  more  violent  scourging  which  no  medicine 
can  even  relieve. 

A  friend  asked  Mr.  Moody  to  make  a  certain  minister 
a  subject  of  special  prayer,  who  had  suffered  for  years 
from  insomnia,  nervous  depression,  indigestion,  and  symp- 
toms of  approaching  paralysis.  "  There's  no  use  praying 
for  that  man,"  abruptly  answered  Moody,  "  unless  he  is 
going  to  obey  the  laws  of  nature.  He  has  been  sitting  up 
half  the  night  to  write  editorials,  and  worked  for  years 
without  regard  to  proper  rest  or  sleep.  I  don't  believe  in 
praying  for  the  recovery  of  any  man  who  doesn't  obey  the 
laws  of  health." 

Even  where  disorders  are  hereditary,  rigid  attention  to 
cleanliness,  pure  air,  good  food,  regular  habits;  careful 
avoidance  of  the  excesses  and  exposures  to  which,  in  the 
parent,  the  hereditary  taint  was  due,  may  relieve,  and  in 
many  cases  remove,  the  evil.  Sometimes  the  scourge  is 
God's  reminder,  to  induce  such  care  and  caution  as  may 
prevent  the  further  transmission  of  similar  morbid  ten- 
dencies. Combe,  in  his  "  Constitution  of  Man,"  writing 
only  as  a  scientific  infidel,  vindicates  this  law  of  nature  as, 
on  the  whole,  wise,  just  and  good,  notwithstanding  the  suf- 
fering it  often  causes ;  and  he  invents  a  fable  to  illustrate 
this. 


396  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

A  young  heir  complains  to  Jupiter  because,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  father's  debaucheries,  he  is  pierced  with 
pangs,  for  sins  not  his  own.  Jupiter  repHes  that,  by  the 
very  law  of  which  he  complains,  he  also  receives  from  his 
father  delicate  nerves,  vigorous  muscles,  keen  senses  and 
many  noble  capacities  and  faculties  of  mind  and  heart; 
he  offers  in  his  case  to  suspend  the  offensive  organic 
law,  but  warns  him  that,  in  losing  his  pain,  he  will 
also  lose  all  advantages  and  benefits  coming  to  him 
through  hereditary  descent.  He  further  reminds  him  that 
even  his  pain  is  a  kindly  monitor,  to  warn  him  from  the 
paths  of  vice,  trodden  by  his  father.  The  sufferer  with- 
draws complaint,  resigns  himself  to  his  sufferings,  and  re- 
solves, by  obedience  to  all  bodily  laws,  to  reduce  his  pains, 
and,  if  possible,  bring  back  his  body  to  a  normal  and 
healthy  estate. 

So  far  as  disease  is  a  direct  divine  judgment  on  moral 
offences,  we  can  hope  for  its  removal,  if  at  all,  only  as 
we  repent  and  reform.  This  was  continually  illustrated 
in  the  history  of  Israel.  Idolatry,  rebellion,  profanity,  sen- 
suality provoked  God's  judgments,  in  pestilence,  plague, 
and  calamity  of  every  form.  Imagine  the  Hebrews, 
when  that  great  plague  smote  them  at  Kibroth  Hattaavah, 
for  their  angry  murmurings,  sending  to  Egypt  for  medi- 
cine men,  holding  consultations  about  herbs  and  poultices, 
applying  sinapisms  and  cataplasms  to  heal  a  plague  that 
only  sorrow  for  sin  could  even  soothe!  Or,  when  Mir- 
iam's jealousy  led  her  to  rebel  against  Moses,  and  God 
smote  her  with  leprosy,  imagine  Aaron  calling  together 
the  skilful  doctors  of  Israel  and  of  surrounding  countries 
to  treat  her  case,  using  curious  prescriptions  of  drugs; 
allopathic  doses,  homoeopathic  dilutions,  or  hydropathic 
packs  and  washings,  as  remedies  for  God's  own  judgment 
on  her  sin !  Pharaoh  might  as  well  have  tried  to  rid  him- 
self of  the  plagues  by  medicating  the  Nile,  by  frog-traps 


BELIEF  IN  «  DIVINE  HEALING  '*         397 

and  fly-traps,  and  fine-toothcombs,  by  fumigations  and 
salves  and  patent  medicines.  Had  Miriam  attempted  any 
such  remedial  treatment,  it  would  have  been  fresh  insult 
to  the  Lord  who  was  dealing  with  her.  She  consented  to  be 
shut  out  of  the  camp  as  unclean,  for  seven  days,  until 
fasting,  humiliation  and  prayer  removed  the  leprous 
scourge. 

When  sin  against  moral  law — intoxication,  sensuality, 
debauchery,  deliberate  abandonment  to  crime, — has 
brought  a  stroke  of  judgment,  it  is  aggravated  rebellion 
virtually  to  deny  God's  connection  with  the  bodily  curse; 
and,  instead  of  turning  to  Him  in  repentance,  turn  away 
from  Him  and  undertake  to  undo  His  work  of  judgment 
by  the  aid  of  drugs !  To  permit  such  devices  to  succeed, 
would  be  striking  a  blow  at  His  own  authority, — entering 
into  competition  with  man,  and  allowing  man  to  circum- 
vent Him! 

The  third  class  of  ailments  are  corrections  in  love.  We 
have  some  fault,  that  the  Father  would  chasten  away; 
some  wrong  temper  or  disposition,  that  He  would  trans- 
form; we  have  wandered,  and  He  seeks  to  reclaim;  we 
are  unduly  attached  to  some  idol,  and  He  seeks  to  wean; 
some  lack  of  conformity  to  His  will  He  would  correct! 
In  such  cases,  the  discipline  ought  not  to  cease,  until  the 
wrong  is  purged  away,  or  the  result  attained!  The  very 
word,  "  chastisement,"  has  a  lesson.  A  parent  chastises  for 
a  fault;  the  object  of  correction  is  to  correct;  as  soon  as 
the  child  becomes  obedient,  and  the  fault  is  corrected, 
the  chastisement  is  of  course  abated;  for,  from  that  mo- 
ment, if  chastisement  continued,  malice  would  displace 
mercy,  and  hate,  love.  But,  until  then,  to  abate  chastise- 
ment would  be  sparing  the  rod  but  spoiling  the  child. 

God  dealeth  with  us  as  a  father  with  the  son  in  whom 
he  delights,  and,  so  far  as  bodily  suflFering  is  His  chastise- 
ment, we  should  seek  its  removal  only  so  far  as  its  end  is 


398  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

attained.  The  first  step,  therefore,  should  be  to  the  Phy- 
sician, not  of  the  body  but  of  the  soul ;  not  the  poultice  of 
figs,  but  the  face  to  the  wall ;  not  the  decoction  of  herbs, 
but  the  panacea  of  the  gospel.  We  are  to  inquire  what 
the  Lord  seeks  to  rebuke,  change,  correct,  or  remove. 
One  ounce  of  holy  reflection,  penitence,  prayer,  is  worth 
a  pound  of  drugs.  One  drop  of  Jesus'  blood  or  the  oil 
of  the  Spirit,  is  worth  all  Neptune's  ocean,  or  all  the  es- 
sences and  extracts  in  the  world.  It  is  not  the  balm  of 
the  apothecary,  but  the  "  balm  of  Gilead,"  that  is  needed. 
This  would  not  be  disputed,  had  not  materiaHsm  and  prac- 
tical atheism  so  tainted  Christian  life,  that  we  practically 
shut  God  out  from  our  affairs.  In  modern  notions  the 
universe  is  a  clock  work,  wound  up  somehow,  and  some- 
how never  running  down;  the  wheels  move  regularly, 
and  nothing  can  stop  them ;  there  is  no  intelligence  guiding 
them ;  blind  "  natural  law  "  is  the  mechanical  mainspring. 
If  you  get  caught  and  half  crushed  between  the  cogs,  it  is 
an  accident ;  and  all  you  can  hope  to  do  is  to  get  the  doctor 
to  bind  up  your  wounds  with  bandage  and  healing  salves 
and  ointments  and  set  your  broken  bones.  You  have  come 
into  collision  with  a  machine,  which  has  neither  intelli- 
gence nor  will,  love  nor  mercy.  All  you  can  do  is,  if  pos- 
sible, to  repair  the  damage  by  some  other  machine  or 
mechanical  appliance,  and  for  the  future  be  more  careful. 
Medical  science  drifts,  nowadays,  towards  this  material- 
istic, mechanical  theory.  God  is  excluded  from  the  do- 
main of  bodily  ailments,  and  uniform,  inexorable  laws  con- 
trol health  and  disease.  The  physician  has  investigated 
the  madiine,  and  can  tell  you  how  to  keep  out  of  its  way ; 
or,  if  you  have  got  hurt,  he  has  his  machinery  of  bandage 
and  poultice,  knife  and  battery,  drug  and  salve,  to  make 
you  over,  good  as  new.  If  you  have  sinned  by  overwork, 
dose  yourself  with  quinine;  if  you  are  sleepless  from  ex- 
cessive study,  court  artificial  sleep  by  soporifics  and  ano- 


BELIEF  IN  "  DIVINE  HEALING  "         399 

dynes ;  if  you  have  disordered  your  stomach,  "  use  for 
your  stomach's  sake,"  a  Httle  wine  or  more  powerful  stim- 
ulants ;  if  you  have  been  guilty  of  sensual  excesses,  resort 
to  patent  medicines.  No  recognition  of  God  or  con- 
science !  no  injunction  to  obey  God's  law,  keep  the  Sabbath 
holy,  cease  mad  pursuit  of  gain  and  fame,  fast  instead  of 
feasting,  give  brain  and  stomach  rest,  and  cut  off  all  sins 
of  the  flesh.  Thank  God !  all  physicians  have  not  been 
swept  along  upon  this  current  of  practical  atheism!  The 
mention  of  Sir  James  Y.  Simpson  of  Edinburgh  and  Al- 
fred Post  of  New  York  reminds  of  the  illustrious  host 
of  Christian  physicians,  who  have  both  believed  and 
taught  a  Scriptural  theory  of  disease:  that  man  sins 
against  God  when  he  transgresses  a  moral  or  physical  law ; 
that  repentance  is  therefore  the  first  step  toward  a  true  re- 
covery, and  obedience  the  true  preventive  of  similar  ills; 
that,  behind  physical  laws  and  their  uniformity,  is  an  in- 
telligent, benevolent  Sovereign,  whose  ways  of  working 
they  are,  and  right  relations  with  whom  are  the  primary 
secrets  of  all  normal  conditions  of  body  or  soul.  Some 
of  the  most  skilful  doctors  never  wrote  a  prescription  or 
administered  a  remedy  without  a  prayer  for  guidance. 
One  such,  who  stood  at  the  head  of  his  profession,  would 
in  the  sick-room,  seek,  first,  to  lead  his  patient  to  repent- 
ance toward  God,  and  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and 
he  said  that  remedies  proved  practically  ineffectual,  where 
the  patient  was  rebellious  and  disobedient  toward  God ;  and 
that,  "  where  there  was  a  right  spirit  toward  God,  all  his 
remedies  wrought  far  more  rapidly  and  effectually;  and 
that,  in  many  cases,  a  change  in  the  spiritual  life  became 
the  basis  of  physical  cure."  He  would  therefore  counsel 
the  sick,  show  them  their  disobedience  toward  God,  guide 
them  to  Christ  and  pray  at  their  bedside ',  and,  where  all 
remedies  failed,  point  the  dying  to  the  Physician  of  souls. 
As  to  bodily  afflictions  designed  for  the  education  of 


400  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

character,  God  may  have  lessons  for  His  saints  which  can 
be  learned  only  in  the  school  of  suffering;  and  this  may 
account  for  the  fact  that  some  who  have  so  learned 
patience  and  submission  that  their  faces  shine  with  the 
solar  light,  and  their  bed-chambers  are  the  vestibule  of 
heaven,  abide  for  long  years  in  a  suffering  body. 

Just  here,  the  '*  Faith  Cure  "  school  often  runs  to  an 
extreme.  Some  say  that  all  sickness  is  the  result  of  sin ; 
that,  as  the  atonemetit  of  Christ  avails  for  sin  and  all  its 
consequences,  of  which  sickness  is  one,  faith  will  enable  us 
to  escape  sickness,  and  they  conclude  that  all  sick  persons 
are  sinners,  or  if  not  unsaved  sinners,  unbelieving  saints. 
The  fallacy  and  sophistry  of  such  reasoning  are  not  hard 
to  trace.  Sickness  is  the  fruit  of  sin,  but  not  necessarily  of 
the  sin  of  the  individual  sufferer.  As  parts  of  a  social  or- 
ganism, none  of  us  are  independent  of  others ;  and  when, 
at  any  point,  the  organism  suffers  injury,  the  shock  is  felt 
throughout ;  suffering  is  entailed  not  only  by  heredity,  but 
by  society ;  nor  shall  we  be  wholly  delivered  from  partner- 
ship in  the  sorrows  and  sufferings  of  humanity  till  we  are 
no  longer  part  of  an  unredeemed  society,  and  we  must  all 
"  travail  in  pain  together,"  until  the  "  day  of  redemption." 

10.  There  is  a  Redemption  for  the  body  and,  while  its 
consummation  is  found  only  in  the  resurrection,  bodily 
health  in  its  anticipation.  (3  John,  2;  i  Thess.  v,  23;  i 
Cor.  vi,  19;   Ephes.  v,  30;   Rom.  viii,  11;  2  Cor.  iv,  10, 

II.) 

The  drift  of  such  passages  is  that,  by  faith,  we  become  so 
identified  with  Christ,  that  our  bodies  become  the  temple 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  life  of  Jesus  is  manifested  in 
them.  Surely,  a  body  in  which  the  Spirit  dwells  ought,  by 
virtue  of  that  fact,  to  be  a  better  body,  and  feel  the  thrill 
of  that  divine  life  in  better  blood,  brain,  brawn,  bone  and 
nerves !  The  divine  indwelling  should  have  both  a  purify- 
ing and  healing  effect  on  even  the  material  temple. 


BELIEF  IN  «  DIVINE  HEALING  "         401 

11.  As  "  Jesus  Christ  "  is  the  "  same  yesterday  and  to- 
day, and  forever,"  the  measure  of  blessing  we  receive  from 
Him  depends  on  the  appropriating  power  of  our  faith. 
Perhaps  the  notion  that  heaHng  power  is  no  longer  exer- 
cised, hinders  asking  in  faith,  and  touching  the  hem  of 
His  garment,  so  as  to  be  made  whole.  "  The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin."  Yet  we  are  not  cleansed 
from  all  sin  so  long  as  feeble  faith  does  not  grasp  the  ful- 
ness of  this  promise.  And  so,  while  He  has  still  the  same 
divine  healing  power,  believers  may  not  receive  the  fulness 
of  healing  virtue,  because  faith  does  not  lay  hold  on  His 
power.  Increase  of  faith  may  make  larger  blessings  pos- 
sible. "  Far  more  people  are  humbugged  by  believing 
too  little,  than  by  believing  too  much,"  said  Barnum. 
And  in  our  relations  with  God,  a  faith  whose  boldness  and 
largeness  of  expectation  border  on  presumption,  is  far 
better  than  the  unbelief  that  dares  neither  to  ask  nor  hope 
for  blessings  which  He  only  waits  for  our  asking,  to 
bestow. 

12.  If,  therefore,  supernatural  signs  have  disappeared 
in  consequence  of  the  loss  of  primitive  faith  and  holi- 
ness, a  revival  of  these  latter  may  bring  new  mani- 
festations of  the  former.  Supernatural  signs  appear  to 
have  survived  the  apostolic  age;  but  we  cannot  trace 
them  beyond  the  period  of  Constantine,  when  the  church 
lost  its  separateness,  merged  with  and  into  the  state; 
when  evangelistic  activity  declined  and  evangelical  faith 
decayed ;  and  so  the  conditions  of  God's  special  presence 
among  His  people  no  longer  existed.  If  in  these  degen- 
erate days,  a  new  Pentecost  should  restore  primitive  faith, 
worship,  unity  and  activity,  new  displays  of  divine  power 
might  surpass  those  of  any  previous  period. 

In  conclusion  we  set  up  a  few  landmarks  of  limitation 
and  qualification. 

I.  There  is  in  the  Old  Testament  an  emphasis  on  tem- 


402  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

poral  blessings,  not  found  in  the  New.  Hence  Francis 
Bacon  wrote :  "  Prosperity  is  the  blessing  of  the  Old 
Testament ;  adversity,  the  blessing  of  the  New."  Before 
Christ  came,  the  future  state  was  more  imperfectly  re- 
vealed, and  the  life  that  now  is  was  correspondingly  promi- 
nent. The  definite  promise  of  long  life,  immunity  from 
disease,  and  outward  well-being,  is  not,  for  some  reason, 
repeated  in  the  New  Testament.  When  Christ  brought  life 
and  immortality  to  light,  the  emphasis  passed  from  things 
temporal  to  things  eternal,  and  the  need  of  incitements  to 
duty  and  obedience,  drawn  from  this  life,  does  not  exist 
to  the  same  degree.  In  the  New  Testament,  there  is  a 
conspicuous  absence  of  such  incentives — no  promise  of 
long  life,  but  only  of  abundant  life;  not  of  barns  filled 
with  plenty,  but  only  of  necessary  food  and  raiment ;  not 
of  freedom  from  disease,  but  only  of  blessing  through 
discipline.  Those  who  hold  opposite  views  must  go  back 
to  the  older  Scriptures  for  their  primary  warrant. 

2.  No  use  of  natural  means  can  be  proven  improper, 
provided  dependence  be  on  God.  The  most  marked  cases 
of  healing  have  been,  like  that  of  the  "  woman  with  the  is- 
sue of  blood,"  where  ordinary  means  have  failed.  If  some 
rush  to  extreme  positions,  neglecting  even  common  pre^ 
cautions  and  abandoning  even  harmless  remedies,  using 
prayer  as  the  only  antidote  to  poison,  the  only  healer  of 
broken  bones,  the  only  preventive  of  small  pox,  the  only 
substitute  even  for  vitiated  air,  there  are  others  who,  free 
from  such  fanaticism,  hold  the  truth  within  spiritual  and 
rational  and  sensible  limits. 

Faith  in  God's  healing  power  is  not  to  be  put  on  a  level 
with  the  presumption  of  the  fanatic  who,  finding  his  wife 
suffocating  with  charcoal  gas,  instead  of  opening  the  win- 
dow to  let  in  fresh  air,  leaves  her  shut  in,  while  he  runs 
for  the  elders  with  their  anointing  pot.     A  witty  editot 


BELIEF  IN  "  DIVINE  HEALING  "         403 

who  stigmatizes  the  advocates  of  faith-cure  as  those  who 
"  neither  use  a  fig-poultice  nor  care  a  fig  for  a  poultice," 
raised  a  smile  of  derision,  but  convinced  nobody.  "  A 
light  word  is  the  devil's  keenest  sword,"  and  such  weapons 
are  easily  turned  by  him  against  the  truth  and  its  de- 
fenders. No  doctrine  is  so  fundamental,  no  fact  so  un- 
mistakable, that  it  has  not  been  robed  in  satire — "  The 
blood  "  sneered  at,  the  Lord's  table  caricatured,  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Bible  travestied :  but  all  these  are  like  the 
attempts  of  the  smart  boy  to  excite  laughter  by  charcoal- 
ing the  clown's  features  over  the  alabaster  face  of  a  Min- 
erva or  a  Madonna. 

In  weighing  truth  or  falsity  we  need  calmness,  fairness, 
courtesy,  charity,  sound  argument  and  a  Scriptural  spirit. 
Yet  how  seldom  do  we  find  such  a  spirit  in  the  examina- 
tion of  the  question,  as  is  found  in  Dr.  Gordon's  "  Min- 
istry of  Healing."  ''  Faith-cure  "  is  the  butt  of  so  much 
satire  that  one  can  scarce  write  on  it,  without  risk  of  being 
made  a  blind  Samson  "  to  grind  in  the  mill,  while  the  Phil- 
istines look  on  and  make  sport." 

As  we  should  not  carelessly  resort  to  ridicule,  so  ought 
we  not  to  be  blinded  by  prejudice.  Bacon  classed  the  bar- 
riers to  progress, as  the  idols  of  the  tribe, or  race  prejudice; 
idols  of  the  den  or  cave,  or  individual  prejudice;  idols  of 
the  forum,  or  contagious  prejudice,  and  idols  of  the  thea- 
ter, or  prejudice  imbibed  from  influential  men  or  teachers. 
There  is  plenty  of  this  fourfold  idolatry.  When  intelligent 
believers  affirm  their  conviction,  founded  on  experience 
and  observation,  that  God  directly,  in  answer  to  prayer, 
heals  otherwise  incurable  disease,  they  are  met,  not  with 
impartial  and  courteous  investigation;  but  with  preju- 
dices that  spring  from  violent  hostility  to  everything  su- 
pernatural, from  professional  bigotry,  from  obstinate  con- 
servatism, or  from  virtual  idolatry  of  a  few  prominent 


404  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

leaders  or  teachers  who  know  everything,  and  whose  dic- 
tum settles  all  questions  at  once.  It  is  our  duty  neither  to 
be  biased  by  previous  judgments,  nor  borne  down  by  the 
weight  of  mere  human  authority,  though  a  Daniel  come  to 
judgment,  or  an  ** infallible"  Pope  issue  his  "bull."  Every 
question  is  to  be  examined  in  the  light,  first  of  Scripture 
teaching,  and  then  of  competent  testimony.  No  shafts  of 
ridicule,  no  bolts  of  denunciation  need  alarm,  for  he  who  is 
on  the  side  of  truth  and  God,  may  dare  to  stand  alone, 
for  "  one,  with  God,  is  a  majority." 

3.  Fanatical  extremes  are  no  argument  against  essen- 
tial truth.  Coleridge  said  that  fanaticism  is  often  only 
"  the  refraction  of  a  truth  yet  below  the  horizon ; "  and 
consequent  discoloration.  Much  fanaticism  is  the  result  of 
convictions  gf  truth,  embraced  amid  opposition.  Behind 
the  "vagaries  of  faith-healing,"  may  be  hidden  a  precious 
truth  which  the  mass  of  professing  Christians  live  in  too 
worldly  a  state  to  recognize  or  accept.  Hence,  those  who 
do,  driven  by  antagonism  and  ridicule,  into  separation  and 
isolation,  run  to  extremes ;  but  such  has  been  the  history 
of  every  reform  in  morals  or  religion. 

Some  earnest  Christians  who  believe  in  Divine  Healing 
hesitate  to  avow  it.  A  godly  and  conservative  minister 
who  is  at  the  farthest  remove  from  fanaticism,  constitu- 
tionally calm,  discreet,  judicious,  declared  to  me  his  belief 
in  healing  in  answer  to  prayer ;  accounting  it  a  gift  never 
wholly  withdrawn  from  the  church,  varying  in  extent  with 
the  conditions  of  spiritual  life ;  but  he  does  not  think  the 
use  of  proper  means  excluded,  or  that  all  sickness  implies 
in  the  individual  a  low  state  of  piety  or  faith. 

4.  There  is  no  necessary  antagonism  between  divine 
healing  and  human  healing.  The  discoveries,  achieve- 
ments and  advances  of  medical  science  are  wonderful,  es- 
pecially in  anaesthetics,  antiseptics,  febrifugal  and  kindred 


BELIEF  IN  "  DIVINE  HEALING  "         405 

remedies  and  appliances.  But  such  science  is  neither 
omniscient  nor  omnipotent ;  at  best,  in  many  things  uncer- 
tain and  experimental,  if  not  blind  and  powerless,  even  by 
the  confession  of  experts.* 

Idolatry  of  medical  science,  on  the  part  of  doctor  or 
patient,  is  wicked  and  absurd.  While  using  lawful  means, 
we  are  to  remember  that  only  He  who  made  this  body, 
understands  its  healthy  or  morbid  conditions,  and  the 
causes  and  cure  of  its  diseases,  and  no  remedy  can  even 
relieve  without  His  blessing ! 

5.  Divine  Healing  has  been  brought  into  contempt  by 
the  rash  claim  that,  if  authentic,  it  belongs  to  the  miracu- 
lous. The  broad  distinction  between  miraculous  and  su- 
pernatural, even  Horace  Bushnell  failed  to  recognize.  The 
supernatural  moves  above  nature;  the  miraculous  moves 
contrary  to  nature,  as  where  the  dead  are  made  to  live  or  a 
lost  limb  is  restored.  The  supernatural  may  move  in  the 
same  direction  as  nature,  adding  the  impulse  of  a  divine 
energy.  Conversion  is  not  miraculous,  but  it  is  super- 
natural. In  the  mind  it  produces  convictions;  in  the 
heart  it  awakens  affections ;  in  the  will,  it  stirs  resolves, 
beyond  the  power  of  the  natural  man.  A  wind  may  blow 
against  a  running  stream  so  as  to  arrest  its  flow;  or  in 
the  direction  of  its  current,  so  as  to  quicken  its  flow ;  the 
former  illustrates  the  miraculous;  the  latter,  the  super- 
natural.    When  Gk)d  needed  to  accredit  His  messengers, 


♦  Prof.  N.  Chapman  says :  "  Medical  conclusions  differ  widely  from  every 
other  species  of  evidence  ;  we  cheat  ourselves  with  a  thousand  illusions  and 
have  imposed  on  us  still  more  deceptions.  Dark  and  perplexed,  our  devious 
career  resembles  the  blind  gropings  of  Homer's  cy clops  round  his  cave.*' 
Sir  Astley  Cooper  says,  "  The  science  of  medicine  is  founded  upon  conjec- 
ture and  improved  by  murder."  Oliver  W.  Holmes  said  that  "it  were 
better  for  mankind,  but  bad  for  the  fishes,  if  all  drugs  were  cast  into  the 
sea."  Prof.  Armour  wrote  :  "  Drugs  are  administered,  patients  recover  and 
we  suppof  e  we  have  cured  them,  whereas  our  remedies  may  have  had  little 
or  nothing  to  do  with  their  recovery ;  very  likely  it  took  place  in  spite  of  our 
drugs." 


4o6  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

He  wrought  miracles,  which  were  in  contrast  with  all 
natural  modes  of  working;  as  when  fire  burned  up  a 
sacrifice  soaked  with  water,  and  even  licked  up  the  water, 
or  an  impotent  man  suddenly  got  not  only  strength  to 
walk,  but  acquired  the  art  of  walking;  bread  is  added  to 
as  it  is  subtradted  from  and  multiplied  as  it  is  divided; 
water,  that  nature  takes  a  season  to  transform  into  grape 
juice,  is  turned  instantly  into  wine  in  water-pots;  and  a 
man,  dead  four  days,  is  called  forth  by  a  voice.  There 
may  be  no  more  need  of  such  miracles,  and  it  may  be  best 
that  they  should  not  be  wrought,  that  they  may  stand  as 
God's  special  seal  of  authority  upon  certain  inspired 
teachers.  If  a  seal  becomes  common,  it  loses  value;  if 
any  believer  may  work  a  miracle,  and  even  fanatics,  ex- 
tremists and  heretics,  what  becomes  of  God's  attestation  of 
his  prophets,  his  apostles,  his  Son? 

But  it  by  no  means  follows  that  God  is  not  always  su- 
pernaturally  working.  Every  believer  who  receives  from 
God  strength  to  do  what  otherwise  he  could  not  do;  to 
see  a  truth  to  which  the  natural  man  is  blind ;  to  love  the 
holiness  to  which  the  carnal  heart  is  hostile ;  whose  will  is 
divinely  enabled  to  break  the  bonds  of  a  life  habit;  who 
feels  the  thrill  of  conscious  contact  with  God  in  the  closet, 
and  goes  forth  in  His  might,  to  speak  for  Him  and  battle 
with  evil — is  wrought  upon  by  a  supernatural  energy:  it 
may  use  his  natural  powers  and  work  in  the  lines  of  his 
ordinary  work  and  life;  there  may  be  nothing  sudden, 
startling  and  appealing  to  the  grosser  senses ;  but  a  divine 
Spirit  is  moving  the  man  with  a  new  and  strange  energy. 

Every  true  disciple  begins  to  be  such  by  a  supernatural 
act  called  regeneration,  advances  by  a  supernatural  work, 
called  sanctification,  is  qualified  for  service  by  a  super- 
natural anointing,  known  as  unction,  and  with  literal  truth 
can  say,  "  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  Christ  that  dwelleth 
in  me."    Who  shall  dare  say  that  supernatural  working  is 


BELIEF  IN  "DIVINE  HEALING"        407 

confined  to  the  spiritual  nature,  and  does  not  touch  the 
physical?  If,  inhabiting  the  believer,  the  Spirit  of  God 
works  in  him  to  will  and  to  do,  so  that  his  spiritual  life  is 
essentially  a  supernatural  life,  on  what  authority  can  any 
one  declare  that  the  body  can  feel  no  effect  of  that  divine 
indwelling?  John  Knox,  George  Whitefield,  John  Wes- 
ley, Edward  Irving  and  many  other  such  saints  have  risen 
from  the  sick  bed  to  undertake  for  God  work  that  de- 
manded the  full  strength  of  body ;  or,  in  the  midst  of  in- 
cessant strain  and  tension  of  work,  have  not  even  known 
fatigue!  They  found  it  true  that  there  may  be  exertion 
without  exhaustion;  they  renewed  their  strength,  waiting 
on  God;  they  walked  and  fainted  not;  ran  and  were  not 
weary;  and,  when  every  natural  power  seemed  to  fail, 
mounted  up  on  tireless  wings  as  eagles. 

6.  As  to  anointing,  various  views  are  held,  which  may 
be  classed  as  medical,  symbolical,  sacramental.  The  sym- 
bolical seems  most  sensible — that  it  was  a  symbol  of  the 
anointing  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  So  regarded,  it  may  be  used 
or  not,  as  the  believer  prefers,  as  one  of  those  matters  of 
which  every  man  is  to  "  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own 
mind." 

Some  decline  to  anoint,  for  fear  of  unduly  magnifying  a 
mere  outward  form;  but  it  is  possible  to  elevate  it  to 
undue  importance,  by  making  an  *  issue  upon  it.  Why 
not  yield  to  honest  preference  in  things  "  not  essential  ?  " 
If  ministers  of  Christ  would  use  this  harmless  form,  where 
desired,  it  would  at  least  withdraw  one  comparatively 
trifling  matter  from  the  arena  of  controversy. 

Worldliness  and  carnality  are  so  overrunning  the 
church,  that  the  breath  of  believing  prayer  is  stifled  by  a 
godless  atmosphere.  Much  of  the  connection  between  sin 
and  sickness  is  thus  overlooked;  chastisements,  meant  to 
scourge  us  for  violations  of  natural  laws  and  divine  com- 
mands, are  accepted  as  inevitable ;  and,  instead  of  leading 


4o8  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

to  repentance  and  reformation,  foster  a  mistaken  martyr- 
dom. Hundreds  of  cases  of  bodily  infirmity  which  might 
be  remedied  by  prayer,  holy  living  and  laying  hold  on 
God,  get  no  relief,  because  relief  is  sought  in  medical  ex- 
pedients: the  cause  lying  deeper,  the  remedy  fails  to 
reach  the  seat  of  the  disease. 

One  thing  is  sure:  prayers  for  the  sick  often  do  not 
avail.  To  say  that  God's  promise  is  limited  to  the 
''  prayer  of  faith"  and  that  such  faith  is  not  simply  a  grace, 
but  a  gift,  not  to  be  exercised  by  all  and  at  all  times,  may 
be  only  an  apology  for  the  lack  both  of  the  gift  and  the 
grace !  The  more  of  the  grace  we  cultivate,  the  more  of 
the  gift  is  likely  to  be  conferred.  The  one  need  of  our  day 
is  a  higher  type  of  piety — a  closer  walk  with  God.  The 
carnally-minded  disciple  can  not  have  the  contact  with  God 
which  conveys  to  our  impotence  the  energy  of  omnipo- 
tence. To  live  for  the  treasures  or  pleasures  of  this  world 
is  to  be  dead  while  we  live;  and  a  dead  Christian  is  a 
powerless  Christian.  A  new  hold  on  God  might  prove  a 
new  revelation  of  a  faith  that  removes  mountains,  and 
wrenches  sycamores  from  their  rock-bed !  a  faith  to  which 
nothing  is  impossible ! 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

THE  INCREASING  STUDY  OF  THE  "  LAST  THINGS  " 

The  study  of  questions  of  eschatology,  or  "  the  last 
things,"  particularly  the  approaching  "  end  of  the  age," 
has  taken  on  new  interest  of  late. 

Many  think  such  studies  unpractical,  and  that  to  deter- 
mine anything,  as  to  the  future,  with  certainty,  is  impossi- 
ble; and  yet,  among  those  who  have  investigated  along 
these  lines,  and  claim  to  have  reached  positive  conclusions, 
are  many,  whose  scholarship  is  of  a  high  order,  ard  who 
have  both  large  acquaintance  with  Scripture,  and  intense 
devotion  to  the  person  of  Christ.  There  is  also  among  such 
a  general  consensus  of  opinion  that  we  are  now  on  the 
threshold  of  that  crisis,  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  world,  concerning  which  Christ  bade  us 
to  "  watch  and  pray." 

In  view  of  all  this,  it  may  be  well  to  consider  some  of  the 
main  arguments  urged  for  the  conclusion  and  conviction 
that  the  time  of  the  end  is  drawing  near. 

We  select  tzvelve  of  the  more  conspicuous,  •  presenting 
these  positions,  rather  as  the  historian  or  annalist  than  as 
the  advocate.  These  opinions  are  not  always  mutually 
consistent,  not  all  starting  from  the  same  point  of  de- 
parture, nor  based  upon  the  same  systems  of  interpretation 
and  calculation ;  yet  they  are  of  value  as  illustrating  one 
common  trend  of  opinion  toward  the  one  common  conclu- 
sion which,  like  the  golden  mile-stone  at  Rome,  is  thus 
reached  by  many  roads  from  diverse  starting  points. 

Six  of  these  methods  of  computation  have  a  numerical 

409 


410  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

basis,  and  to  appreciate  the  argument,  at  whatever  be  its 
worth,  one  must  understand  and  recognize  a  numerical 
SYSTEM  as  manifestly  pervading  the  whole  Word  of  God 
from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  and  which  constitutes  a  sort  of 
mathematical  framework  upon  which  the  entire  structure 
of  written  Revelation  is  built.  This  will  not  surprise  those 
who  have  already  found  such  a  numerical  structure  per- 
vading all  the  works  of  God  in  creation,  and  have  traced 
the  curious  mathematical  correspondences  in  historic 
periods.  In  astronomy,  chemistry,  biology,  mineralogy, 
botany,  anatomy,  there  are  mathematical  laws  of  dimen- 
sion and  proportion,  geometrical  ratios,  and  numerical 
systems,  that  the  scientific  observer  is  compelled  to  admit 
and  admire.*  There  are  signs  of  one  mathematical  Mind 
which  astonish  and  overwhelm  us.  The  orbits,  periods  of 
rotation  and  revolution  of  the  planets,  and  their  respect- 
ive distances  from  the  sun;  the  spiral  course  and  regular 
recurrence  of  leaf-buds  on  the  trees  and  plants,  the  pro- 
portions and  dimensions  of  crystals,  the  chemical  ratios — 
all  these  and  similar  facts  found  among  the  thousand 
forms  of  life  and  myriad  operations  of  nature,  reveal  con- 
formity to  strict  mathematical  laws.  There  are  octaves 
of  color  as  well  as  of  sound,  and  from  Sirius  down  to  the 
invisible  atom,  the  uniformity  of  order  tells  of  one  Creator 
and  Designer.  This  fact  being  once  admitted,  it  becomes 
less  a  novelty  to  find  evidence  of  a  like  mathematical  pre- 
cision in  the  structure  of  Scripture  and  the  events  of  his- 
tory. 

Thus  prepared,  we  may  glance  at  the  various  positions 
taken  by  devout  students  of  prophecy  and  history,  as  to 

*  Thomas  A.  Edison  has  the  insight  to  see  through  mechanism  into  the 
Mind  behind  it.  "  Chemistry,"  he  says,  "undoubtedly  proves  the  existence 
of  a  supreme  Intelligence.  No  one  can  study  that  science  and  see  the  won- 
derful way  in  which  certain  elements  combine  with  the  nicety  of  the  most 
tdelicate  machine  ever  devised,  and  not  come  to  the  inevitable  conclusioa 
hat  there  is  a  big  Engineer  who  is  running  this  universe." 


STUDY  OF  THE  "  LAST  THINGS  "       41 1 

the  time  of  the  end,  and  seek  to  get  the  outlook  from  their 
points  of  survey,  noting  in  advance  that,  by  at  least  twelve 
independent  methods  of  calculation  and  computation,  they 
all  reach  a  common  conclusion  that  some  great  crisis  lies 
between  the  years  1880  and  1920,  or  thereabouts. 

I.  The  Millenary  Basis. — We  are  told  that  "  One 
day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand 
years  as  one  day."  (2  Peter  iii,  8.)  This  is  taken  as  a 
hint,  by  no  means  obscure,  of  God's  chronology,  and  is 
construed  as  favoring  the  old  Jewish  tradition  that  there 
are  to  be  six  millenniums,  or  days  of  a  thousand  years  each, 
and  then  a  grand  seventh  millennial  day — a  thousand  years 
of  rest — the  true  millennium.  If  so,  this  thousand  years 
of  Sabbatic  rest,  crowning  the  six  long  days  of  a  world's 
toil,  can  not  be  far  off.  According  to  the  current  chro- 
nology, but  one  more  century  would  be  needed  to  complete 
the  six  millenary  periods ;  but  reckoning  Joshua's  "  long 
day  "  as  the  turning  point  when  the  longer  solar  year  gave 
place  to  the  shortened  lunar  year  as  the  standard  of 
reckoning,  the  year,  1899,  would  complete  the  sixth 
millenary  since  creation  (2,555-]- long  ^^^  3^444+ short 
years).  This  method  of  construing  Scripture  and  com- 
puting time  has  gained  many  adherents  of  late,  both  in 
Britain  and  in  America,  and  it  has  at  least  the  merit  of 
symmetry  and  simplicity.  It  divides  human  history  into 
seven  equal  periods  of  a  thousand  years  each,  making  it  all 
one  great  week  of  millenniums,  whose  vanity  and  vexation 
of  spirit  end  in  one  grand  final  seventh  period  of  Sab- 
batic triumph  and  lest. 

II.  "  The  Times  of  the  Gentiles." — Our  Lord  uses 
this  phrase  (Luke  xxi,  24),  making  their  fulfilment  the 
boundary  limit  of  Jerusalem's  desolation,  and  Paul  (Rom. 
xi,  25)  uses  a  similar  phrase,  "  the  fulness  of  the  Gen- 


412  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

tiles,"  as  limiting  the  period  of  Israel's  judicial  blindness. 
It  is,  therefore,  a  natural  and  legitimate  inquiry  what 
period  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  span. 

There  is  general  agreement  that  Nebuchadnezzar,  as  the 
"  head  of  gold  "  (Dan.  ii,  38),  and  representative  of  the 
first  of  the  world  kingdoms  (Dan.  vii,  3,  4)  is  the  typical 
world  power  from  whom  these  times  are  to  be  reckoned, 
and  that  the  "  seven  times  "  or  years  that  ''  passed  over 
him  in  his  strange  insanity  "  typify  seven  longer  years  or 
periods,  each  composed  of  360  year-days,*  or  a  total  of 
2,520  years,  as  covering  the  times  of  the  Gentiles,  to  be 
fulfilled  before  the  end.  Reckoning  from  Nebuchadnez- 
zar's first  incursion  into  Judah,  when  Daniel  was  made 
captive  (606  B.  C.),  the  twenty-five  hundred  and  twenty 
years  would  be  complete  about  1914  A.  D.  If  the  leading  of 
the  British  Chronological  Association  be  followed,  and  we 
reckon  from  Nabopolassar's  assumption  of  the  crown  of 
Babylon,  in  the  year  3377  A.  M.,  the  seven  full  "  times  " 
would  expire  in  5897  A.  M.,  which  is  believed  to  coincide 
again  with  the  year  1899.  By  a  second  road,  therefore, 
the  time  of  the  great  crisis  is  identified  with  the  current 
period  of  human  history. 

III.  The  "  Historical  ''  Method. — Closely  connected 
with  this  is  a  third  mode  of  computation.  "  The  times  of 
the  Gentiles  "  (2,520  years)  apparently  fall  into  two  equal 
divisions  of  1,260  year  year-days  or  "  forty  and  two 
months,"  "a.  time,  times,  and  half  a  time"  (3J  years). 
This  division  is  conspicuous  both  in  Daniel  and  the  Apoca- 
lypse,! ^^d  ^he  desolation  of  Jerusalem  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury seems  to  be  the  dividing  line.  Advocates  of  the  "  his- 
torical "  interpretation  of  the  Apocalypse  generally  hold 


*  The  prophetic  year  seems  to  be  one  of  twelve  equal  months  of  30  days 
each, 
t  Rev.  xi ,  2,  xii ,  6-14,  Dan.  vii ,  25. 


STUDY  OF  THE  "  LAST  THINGS  "       413 

the  "  beast "  and  "  the  false  prophet  "  to  represent  respect- 
ively the  papal  and  Moslem  world  powers,  the  Crucifix 
and  the  Crescent.  They  find  a  curious  coincidence  at  least 
in  the  fact  that  both  these  systems  date  from  the  point 
where  the  first  1,260  years  end,  a  period  lying  between  606 
and  620  A.  D.  approximately,  these  being  the  dates  of  the 
"  decree  of  Phocas  "  and  of  the  "  first  Hegira/'*  Taking 
these  dates  as  the  terminus  a  quo,  and  adding  1,260  they 
come  again  to  a  terminus  ad  quern,  lying  somewhere  be- 
tween 1866  and  1886,  as  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  these 
systems  as  world  powers.  Moreover,  in  Rev.  xi,  2,  the 
treading  down  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Gentiles  is  the  starting 
point  of  the  second  period  of  42  months.  If  this  be  reck- 
oned from  637  A.  D.  when,  after  centuries  of  nominally 
Christian  rule,  Jerusalem  yielded  to  the  victorious  Omar, 
and  he  entered  the  city  seated  on  a  red  camel,  without 
guards  or  any  precaution,  the  1,260  days  from  that  date 
bring  us  to  about  1897  A.  D.  f 

•  If  there  were  space  for  a  fuller  presentation  of  this  subject,  we  should 
give  more  of  the  conjectures  as  to  dates.  For  example,  Elliott  put  the  be- 
ginning of  the  1,260  years  at  529  or  533  A.  D.,  when  Justinian's  edicts  acknowl- 
edged John  II.  as  the  head  of  the  church.  Luther  put  it  at  606,  when  Phocas 
confirmed  Justinian's  grant.  Pausset  thinks  752  the  likeliest  date  when 
temporal  dominion  began  by  Pepin's  grant  to  Stephen  II. 

t  A  writer  in  The  Biblical  Scholar  says  :  Whenever  Jerusalem  gets  into  the 
enemy's  hand  she  loses  in  a  sense  her  glorious  name  of  Jerusalem,  "  The 
Foundation  of  Peace,"  and  becomes  "Jebus,"  trodden  down  (see  Judges 
xix,  10,  11).  But  this  is  not  an  everlasting  condition  ;  it  has  an  end.  Once 
more  shall  Jerusalem  be  called  "the  city  of  righteousness"  (Is.  i,  27),  which 
is  equivalent  to  the  foundation  of  peace.  The  times  of  the  Gentiles  seem 
even  now  hastening  to  their  close  in  the  utter  failure  of  the  Gentiles  in  gov- 
ernment. The  exact  date  of  that  end  none  can  tell.  It  synchronizes  with 
the  restoration  of  the  kingdom  to  Israel  in  her  true  Messiah  ;  but  we  re- 
member that  when  the  disciples  asked  the  risen  Lord  as  to  this,  He  replied, 
"  It  is  not  for  you  to  know  the  times,  or  the  seasons,  which  the  Father  fiath 
put  in  His  own  power''  (Acts  i,  7).  "The  Day,"  to  which  Scripture  so 
often  refers  as  "  The  Day  of  the  Lord,"  has,  like  the  natural  day,  its  preced- 
ing evidences  or  signs,  its  streaks  of  dawn  along  the  east,  so  that  we  may 
see  the  Day  approaching"  (Heb.  x,  25),  but  the  moment  when  the  true  Sun 
shaU  throw  His  glorious  beams  across  this  turbulent  scene  is  hidden.  As- 
saming  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  to  have  begun  at  the  first  capture  of  Jeru- 
salem, B.  C.  fc6,  at  the  date  of  which  the  book  of  Daniel  opens,  then  have 


414  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

IV.  The  Sabbatic  System. — The  septenary  division 
impressed  upon  the  whole  face  of  Scripture  history  is  to 
many  Bible  students  the  key  to  unlock  God's  chronology. 
This  Sabbatic  system  reaches  back  to  Eden,  and  charac- 
terizes the  annals  of  the  race.  First,  God  consecrated  the 
seventh  day;  to  this,  in  the  Mosaic  era,  were  added  a 
seventh  week,  a  seventh  month,  a  seventh  year,  a  seventh 
seven  of  years  (the  interval  between  the  Jubilees),  and  a 
seventh  seventy  (490),  introducing  the  Grand  Jubilee. 
In  at  least  two  conspicuous  places  this  last  sacred  number 
appears  (i  Kings  vi,  i;  Daniel  ix,  24).  It  covers  first 
the  years  from  the  Exodus  to  the  completion  of  the  Tem- 
ple, and  again  from  the  New  Exodus  from  Captivity  to  the 
building  of  the  New  Spiritual  Temple  under  the  Messiah. 

This  number,  490,  is  a  double  type  of  completeness, 
being  the  product  of  seven  times  seventy,  and  of  seven 
sevens  (the  Jubilee  interval),  multiplied  by  another  sacred 
number,  ten.  The  Jubilee  periods  reckon,  of  course,  from 
Moses,  under  whom  the  first  law  of  the  Jubilee  is  an- 
nounced. Counting  the  Exodus  from  2515,  A.  M.,  the 
full  seven  periods  of  490,  or  3,430  years,  would  bring  us 
to  5945  A.  M.,  or  1943  A.  D.,  as  their  extreme  limit.  But 
if  reckoned  by  the  prophetic  year  of  360  days,  twelve  equal 
months  of  30  days — the  limit  will  fall  at  about  the  present 
time. 

V.  The  Antichrist  Number. — This  suggests  a  fifth 
mode  or  computation.  This  mystic  number,  '*  six  hundred 
three  score  and  six,"  is  taken  by  some  as  a  key  to  God's 
reckoning  of  time — or  the  Divine  Calendar.  (Rev. 
xiii,  18.) 

This  is  the  Divinely  given  mark  of  the  Lawless  One, 
who  is  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  year-week,  and  it  is  thus 

they  already  lasted  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  four  years,  a  period  in 
itself  of  sufficient  length  to  make  us  anticipate  that  its  end  must  be  drawing 
near. 


STUDY  OF  THE  "  LAST  THINGS  "       415 

inseparably  linked  with  the  Man  of  Sin  in  whom,  per- 
sonally, are  to  ''  head  up  "  all  the  antichristian  systems  of 
history.  This  number  is  thought  by  not  a  few  to  be  the 
symbolic  number  of  perpetual  unrest  and  incompleteness, 
being  a  repeating  decimal,  666,  ever  approaching  but  never 
reaching  seven,  the  number  of  completeness  and  rest.  If 
this  number  be  again  multiplied  by  six — its  conspicuous 
and  characteristic  factor — we  get  3,996,  a  number  having 
singular  prominence  in  history.  It  measures  the  period  of 
years  between  the  creation  of  Adam,  and  the  grand  crisis, 
the  Birth  of  Christ.  Or  again,  reckoning  from  the  Birth 
of  Abraham,  the  Father  of  the  Faithful, — a  conspicuous 
epoch  in  sacred  history, — we  come  to  the  close  of  this 
century  as  marking  a  new  grand  crisis,  the  Messiah's  re- 
appearing. This  mode  of  computation  will  be  at  once 
rejected  by  many  as  fanciful,  yet  it  has  its  value  as  another 
thread  in  the  rope  of  many  strands,  which  seems  to  unite 
the  age  in  which  we  are  now  living  with  the  grand  con- 
summation, and  as  such  we  give  it  a  place  in  this  array  of 
argument. 

VI.  "  The  Eleventh  Hour  '"  Mode. — This  method  of 
computation  is  suggested  by  the  parable  of  the  laborers  in 
the  vineyard  (Matt,  xxi,  6),  and  has  at  least  the  merit  of 
ingenuity.  According  to  this  view  the  world  age,  from 
the  time  of  Christ,  is  to  be  divided  into  twelve  "  hours," 
marked  off  and  separated  by  events  of  supreme  signifi- 
cance, as  the  striking  of  God's  clock.  Of  this  mode  of 
computation.  Prof.  Totten,  of  Yale,  is  an  exponent.  He 
makes  the  hours  to  be  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  years 
each,  this  odd  number  being  apparently  suggested  by  the 
strange  exactness  and  particularity  with  which  the  number 
of  fish  is  recorded  in  John  xxi,  11,  the  first  miracle  after 
Christ's  resurrection,  and  connected  with  the  labor  of  His 
apostles. 


4i6  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

According  to  this  reckoning,  and  counting  from  3991 
A.  M.,  the  beginning  of  the  fifty-eighth  generation  of 
seventy  years,  and  about  the  period  of  the  birth  of  Christ, 
the  hours  would  respectively  end  as  follows:  A.  M.,  4143, 
4296,  4449,  4602,  4755,  4908,  5061,  5214,  5367,  5520,  5673, 
5826,  corresponding  to  A.  D.  147,  300,  453,  606,  759,  912, 
1065,  1218,  1371,  1524,  1677,  1840.  Then  would  follow 
another  generation  of  seventy  years,  to  cover  the  calling 
of  the  laborers  and  giving  them  their  hire — a  series  of 
judicial  visitations,  bringing  us  again  to  the  same  approxi- 
mate limit,  A.  D.,  1910. 

The  six  other  methods  are  not  numerical  but  historical 
in  their  basis,  and  have  reference  to  conditions  existing 
among  the  three  great  divisions — the  Jew,  the  Gentile,  and 
the  Church  of  God.     (i  Cor.  x,  32.) 

VII.  The  World-wide  Witness. — Our  Lord  Himself 
distinctly  gave  this  intimation  that  the  Gospel  must  first 
be  published  among  all  nations,  and  preached  as  a  witness 
to  all  nations,  and  "  Then  shall  the  end  come."  Compare 
Matt,  xxiv,  14;  Mark  xiii,  10. 

With  no  little  force  many  argue  that  there  was  never  a 
period  of  such  world-wide  evangelism  as  now.  Over  three 
hundred  missionary  societies  have  spread  their  network 
over  the  earth,  and  more  than  ten  thousand  missionary 
workers,  with  a  force  of  five  times  as  many  native  Chris- 
tian helpers.  The  Bible,  translated  into  some  four  hun- 
dred languages  and  dialects,  publishes  by  its  printed  pages 
the  Gospel  message,  which  living  tongues  proclaim.  A 
few  countries  like  Tibet  remain  to  be  entered,  but  even  in 
these  the  iron  doors  seem  about  to  open,  and  the  time  may 
be  very  near  at  hand  when  to  every  nation  the  witness  shall 
have  been  proclaimed.  Certainly,  never  at  any  previous 
period  in  human  history  has  the  "  witness  "  been  so  gen- 
erally borne  to  the  various  nations  of  the  fallen  race  as 


STUDY  OF  THE  "  LAST  THINGS  "       417 

now.  Even  the  peoples  among  whom  no  missionary  dwells 
have  more  or  less  come  into  contact  with  the  testimony  of 
the  Bible  and  the  missionary  to  the  facts  of  Christianity. 

VIII.  The  Laodicean  State. — This  mode  of  estimat- 
ing our  present  place  in  the  world's  history,  is  of  course 
drawn  from  the  hints  found  in  Rev.  iii,  14-22.  But  the 
argument  is  especially  strengthened  and  confirmed  by  a 
comparison  with  Matt,  xiii,  47-50.  The  latter  gives  a 
glimpse  of  the  last  state  of  the  Kingdom  as  the  end  draws 
near,  and  the  former,  of  the  Church  at  the  same  period. 
In  Matthew  we  have  the  world-wide  evangelism,  already 
referred  to,  symbolized  in  the  Dragnet,  cast  into  the  world 
sea,  and  gathering  of  every  kind;  and,  in  Revelation,  we 
have  the  Laodicean  church,  with  Christ  shut  out,  and  self- 
satisfaction  and  offensive  lukewarmness  reigning  within; 
and  these  two  apparently  contradictory  conditions,  coin- 
ciding and  coexisting  in  the  last  days.  With  awful  em- 
phasis do  some  devout  souls  point  us  to  the  startling  fact 
that  just  now,  and  never  before,  this  strange  paradox  is 
realized :  the  Church  engaged  on  the  one  hand  in  the  most 
extensive  and  world-wide  evangelization,  and  yet  involved 
on  the  other  hand  in  the  most  hopeless  deterioration,  rich, 
increased  with  goods,  in  need  of  nothing,  but  virtually 
shutting  out  Christ.  This  is  called  the  paradox  of  history, 
and  it  is  maintained  that  these  seemingly  conflicting  states 
are  to  be  realized  in  the  days  immediately  preceding  the 
coming  of  the  Son  of  Man — as  a  like  paradox  existed  in 
the  Jewish  state  at  His  first  coming. 

IX.  The  Apostasy. — Another  basis  of  computation, 
similar  to  the  foregoing,  but  not  identical  with  it,  is  found 
in  a  much  broader  exposition  of  the  Scriptures.  We  are 
plainly  told  of  a  falling  away  (ATtodradia),  to  precede  the 
Son  of  Perdition,  and  the  Parousia  of  the  Son  of  Man, 


4i8 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 


2  Thess.  ii,  3.  This  apostasy  has  a  full  portraiture  in  the 
Pastoral  Epistles,  in  Second  Peter,  First  John,  and  Jude. 
The  features  in  the  portrait  are  marked.  They  are  such  as 
these :  a  colossal  development  of  selfishness,  a  generation 
of  heretical  teachers,  iniquitous  practises  even  among  be- 
lievers, the  love  of  many  waxing  cold,  the  Church  of  God 
becoming  Satan's  synagog  and  seat,  the  Word  of  God  and 
His  doctrine  blasphemed,  the  Church  wedded  to  the  world, 
having  the  form  without  the  power  of  godliness,  and  the 
Lord's  coming,  the  blessed  Hope,  scorned  and  scoffed  at, 
etc. 

To  these  and  similar  features,  many  prayerful  disciples 
call  attention,  and  ask  whether  we  are  not  even  now  in 
the  age  of  the  apostasy,  iniquity  abounding  and  the  love 
of  many  waxing  cold ;  the  authority  and  inspiration  of  the 
Word  undermined  even  by  professedly  Christian  teachers 
and  preachers,  and  a  wave  of  worldliness  and  materialism, 
sweeping  over  the  Church,  and  carrying  away  every  dis- 
tinctive mark  of  an  apostolic  assembly.  Similar  condi- 
tions have  existed  before,  but,  it  is  said,  never  in  the  face 
of  such  light,  privilege,  and  opportunity,  nor  to  a  similar 
extent. 


X.  The  Anarchistic  Age. — Side  by  side  with  the 
prophetic  hints  of  an  apostasy  in  the  Church  stands  the 
portrait  of  anarchy  in  the  world,  and  in  the  same  writings. 
And  again  the  features  are  very  marked :  gigantic  selfish- 
ness, covetousness,  pride,  self-glory,  blasphemy,  false  ac- 
cusation, idolatry  of  pleasure,  etc.,  but  mainly  the  lawless 
spirit — ANARCHY.  Lawlessness  in  the  family,  in  marital 
incontinence,  and  disobedience  to  parents;  lawlessness  in 
society,  in  truce  breaking,  and  false  accusation;  lawless- 
ness in  the  state,  in  despising  those  that  are  good  and  being 
traitors  to  those  in  authority;  lawlessness  toward  man, 
without  natural  affection,  and  toward  God  in  scoffers  that 


STUDY  OF  THE  "  LAST  THINGS  "        419 

mock  His  warnings ;  wandering  stars  refusing  wholly  the 
orbit  of  obedience  and  moving  further  into  the  blackness 
of  darkness.  Behold,  say  many,  the  lawless  spirit  now 
prevailing,  the  uprising  of  organized  resistance  to  all  law- 
ful authority,  magisterial  or  ecclesiastical — the  combina- 
tion of  forces  to  supplant  all  government ;  and  at  the  same 
time  the  arbitrary  attempt  to  compel  men  to  limit  even 
trade  and  commerce  by  a  certain  "  mark,"  which  alone 
shall  authorize  one  to  "buy  and  sell "  (Rev.  xii,  16,  17). 
For  the  first  time  in  history  these  two  signs  of  the  last 
times  of  anarchy  have  had  simultaneous  development; 
the  recent  growth  of  communism,  socialism,  and  nihilism, 
wholly  unprecedented,  and  side  by  side  the  growth  of 
monopolies,  trusts,  trades  unions,  and  protective  organiza- 
tions, restricting  even  buying  and  selling  by  their  "  mark." 

XI.  The  Jewish  Sign.— Many  regard  as  another  sign 
of  the  end,  the  obvious  drift  of  the  Jews  toward  their  own 
land  and  the  rehabilitation  of  their  national  life,  not  to 
speak  of  the  conversion  of  so  many  under  Rabinowitz  and 
other  evangelical  leaders,  etc.  This  is  believed  to  be  the 
putting  forth  of  the  leaves  of  the  "  fig  tree,"  which  our 
Lord  gave  as  a  sign  that  the  end  is  "  near,  even  at  the 
doors  "  (  Matt,  xxiv,  32,  33).  There  is  something  start- 
ling about  the  rapidly  increasing  Jewish  element  in  Pales- 
tine and  the  movement  known  as  "  Zionism  "  that  has  de- 
veloped within  a  few  years,  and  summoned  four  great  con- 
ferences in  European  centers,  where  leading  Jews  have  met 
to  discuss  the  very  problems  of  Jewish  colonization  and 
national  revival.  Has  the  patriotic  and  national  spirit  of 
the  Jewish  remnant  had  any  such  time  of  reawakening 
since  Christ  ascended?  Is  this  the  fulfilling  of  Ezekiel's 
vision  of  the  dry  bones  (Ezek.  xxxvii)  ?  If  so,  what  events 
are  "  at  the  very  doors?  "  A  missionary  in  Palestine  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  ten  times  as  many  Jews  reside 


420  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

there  as  forty  years  ago,  and  that  their  social  status  is  be- 
coming more  influential  and  commanding.  Hundreds  of 
converted  Jews  are  already  in  the  Church  of  England,  and 
thousands  in  the  Church  at  large,  and  there  are  unmistak- 
able signs  of  Jewish  reawakening. 

XII.  The  Spirit's  Restraint. — The  last  of  all  these 
signs  of  the  end  to  which  space  allows  reference  is  that 
which  concerns  the  mysterious  prediction  concerning  Him 
who  continues  to  "  let  "  or  act  as  the  Hinderer  of  Evil,  and 
whose  self-removal  is  to  leave  the  mystery  of  iniquity  to 
find  full  revelation  (2  Thess.  ii,  7). 

Some  hold  that,  as  Satan  is  the  hinderer  restraining  all 
good,  so  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  Hinderer,  restraining  all 
evil ;  and  that  the  good  Spirit  will  be  withdrawn  in  effect 
as  an  active  administrator  in  the  Church  and  resisting  force 
in  the  world,  before  the  crisis  of  lawlessness  comes,  and 
the  end  of  the  man  of  sin  in  the  second  Advent.  Those 
who  maintain  this  view  contend  that  every  sign  shows  that 
the  Spirit  either  has  withdrawn  or  is  withdrawing  even 
from  the  Church,  as  a  zvhole;  that  as  a  cause  or  a  conse- 
quence of  such  withdrawal  there  is  left  so  little  spiritual 
worship  or  work,  spiritual  faith  or  life;  that,  while  these 
all  exist  in  the  elect  few,  they  characterize  individuals 
rather  than  the  Church  as  a  body.  Especially  is  this  fact 
made  prominent  by  the  advocates  of  this  view,  that  in  the 
matter  of  administration, — the  specific  office  of  the  Spirit, 
— He  is  displaced  by  the  spirit  of  the  age,  as  evinced  by  the 
worldly  men,  maxims,  methods,  the  secular  spirit,  artistic 
music,  worldly  oratory,  entertainments,  etc.,  everywhere 
prevalent.  And  those  who  sound  this  note  of  warning, 
this  midnight  cry,  feel  constrained  to  bear  witness  that  no 
sign  remains  in  the  Church  at  large  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
retains  His  seat  in  His  own  temple,  and  that  the  Shekinah 
glory  is  already  departed. 


STUDY  OF  THE  "  LAST  THINGS  "       421 

All  this  should  at  least  stir  up  thoughtful  readers  to 
search  for  themselves  into  the  warnings  of  the  Word,  to 
watch  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  to  ask  what  are  the  indi- 
cations above  the  prophetic  and  historic  horizon.  "  Daniel 
understood  by  books  the  number  of  the  years,"  and  hence 
knew  that  the  seventy  years  of  desolation  were  about  ac- 
complished (Dan.  ix,  2).  If  the  signs  of  the  near  end  of  a 
longer  period  of  desolation  are  to  be  found  in  the  books, 
and  read  as  in  the  sky,  it  may  well  incite  us  all  to  be  among 
the  searchers  and  the  watchers,  who,  while  others  sleep, 
are  awake  and  looking  for  the  dawn. 


APPENDIX 

Circular  of  tlje  Qbult  Bible  (Class 

or 

Superintenbenfs  (Builb  of  Betl^ana  (Eljurclj, 
PB^tlabelpl^ta,  Penna. 

APPLICATION  FOR  MEMBERSHIP 

My  name  is 

/  live  at 

Occupation  and  where  employed: 

My  family  consists  of ' 

//  a  member  of  any  Church,  please  state  what  Church: 

I  AGREE 

First. — To  attend  every  Sabbath  afternoon,  Providence 

permitting,   excepting   the Sabbath 

of  the  month. 

Sfxond. — I  will  faithfully  endeavor  to  live  up  to  the 
rules  of  the  Class,  and  do  whatever  I  can  in  making  the 
Class  useful. 

Signed,  full  name: 

423 


424  APPENDIX 

The 
Articles  of  Association 

OF  THE 

Superintendent's  Bible  Guild. 


We  agree  to  associate  ourselves  together,  mainly  for  an 
hour's  conference  on  religious  subjects,  on  Sunday  after- 
noons, and  for  such  other  means  of  improvement  and  use- 
fulness as  are  herein  set  forth  or  may  from  time  to  time  be 
adopted. 

Agreement  of  the  Teacher 

The  teacher  binds  himself  to  be  present,  to  give  a  twenty- 
minute  talk,  every  Sunday,  unless  sick  or  absent  from 
home. 

Members'  Agreement 

The  members  agree  to  attend  each  Sunday,  as  stated  by 
each  one  at  time  of  making  application,  unless  sick  or 
away  from  home. 

Members'  Bibles 

Each  member  agrees  to  own  a  moderate-sized  Bible  and 
bring  it  to  the  study  meeting  every  Sunday. 

Members'  Weekly  Gifts 

Each  member  agrees  to  give  the  fixed  sum  of  not  less 
than  either  two  or  three  cents  a  week,  to  make  ten  cents  a 
month,  for  the  purposes  stated  further  on. 

Members'  Pledge 

If  a  Christian,  to  engage  with  the  teacher  and  put  con- 
science in  such  work  as  he  may  propose. 


APPENDIX  425 

If  not  a  Christian,  to  spend  a  little  time  each  day,  alone, 
with  the  question,  *'  Why  am  I  not  a  Christian?  " 

Members^  Duty 
To  make  it  a  point  to  attend : 

1.  A  monthly  Vesper  Service,  from  7  to  8,  on  the  first 
Sabbath  evening  of  each  month. 

2.  The  Quarterly  Conference,  to  be  held  the  fourth  Mon- 
day night  of  March,  June,  September,  December. 

3.  The  Anniversary  Meeting,  during  the  month  of  Feb- 
ruary. 

Members'  Promise 

a.  To  read  over  during  the  week  the  Scriptures  to  be 
studied  on  the  Sabbath. 

b.  To  do  all  fault-finding  with  each  other  and  the  teacher 
privately,  and  only  with  the  person  at  fault. 

c.  To  try  each  week  to  find  some  one  to  invite  to  the 
Sunday  meeting  of  the  Guild. 

d.  If  not  able  to  attend,  to  send  a  written  resignation, 
and,  if  removing,  to  take  a  Certificate  of  Dismission. 

Form  of  Organisation 

Each  ten  members  shall  constitute  a  Club  or  Band,  and 
shall  have  as  its  captain,  or  leader,  a  head,  to  be  known  as 
the  Titheman.  They  shall  sit  together,  in  seats  specified 
by  the  teacher. 

Each  nine  Clubs  (9x11 — 99  persons)  shall  have  a 
Governor  or  Centurion. 

The  Centurions  and  Tithemen  and  the  membership  of 
each  of  the  Bands  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Teacher. 

Each  corps  of  one  hundred  shall  have  a  name  and  each 
company  of  ten  shall  have  its  own  name. 

Certificate 
Each  member  will  receive  a  Certificate  of  Membership 
when  admitted,  and  an  annual  statement  of  the  number  of 
times  attending  during  the  year. 


426  APPENDIX 

Accounting  Steward 

There  shall  be  one  Accounting  Steward,  who  shall  sit 
at  the  Treasury  table  and  receive  the  collections  and  the 
moneys  to  be  paid  over  by  the  Tithemen,  keeping  proper 
accounts,  and  reporting  each  Sabbath  the  collection  of  the 
previous  Sabbath. 

Attending  Stewards 

There  shall  be  four  Attending  Stewards,  who  shall  be 
at  the  doors  when  members  are  entering,  and  give  out  the 
envelopes.  They  shall  also  attend  to  all  distributions,  and 
take  up  the  basket  collections. 

Secretary 

There  shall  be  one  Secretary,  who  will  keep  the  Roll- 
books,  and  have  charge  of  all  the  blanks  and  printed  mat- 
ter. 

Duties  of  the  Centurions 

They  shall  sit  at  a  desk  provided,  keep  a  record  of  the 
attendance  of  the  Tithemen  and  see  that  they  attend  to 
their  duties,  receive  the  contributions  of  their  respective 
Guilds,  count  the  same,  keep  a  record,  or  pay  over  each 
Sabbath  to  the  Accounting  Steward. 

They  will  maintain,  by  their  personal  diligence  and  the 
aid  of  their  Tithemen,  a  kindly  watch  and  care  over  the 
hundred  souls  committed  to  them,  advance  their  welfare, 
wherever  possible,  by  good  counsel  and  helpfulness,  and 
see  that  the  teacher  is  apprised  of  anything  that  can  be 
done  by  him  to  be  useful  to  the  flock.  The  Centurions  will 
take  turns  in  conducting  the  opening  worship  of  the  Sab- 
bath meeting. 

Duties  of  the  Tithemen 

To  be  present  each  Sabbath  ten  minutes  before  meeting 
begins ;  to  see  their  members  seated,  receive  the  tithes  and 


APPENDiy  427 

mark  the  attendance  in  Band  book.  To  pay  over  each 
Sabbath  the  gifts  to  the  Centurions,  and  to  make  out  and 
give  to  the  Secretary  at  the  closing  of  each  session,  for  the 
teacher,  the  daily  statement  of  the  class  present,  etc.,  on 
blank  furnished  by  Secretary.  It  will  also  be  their  duty 
to  visit  the  absentees,  or  state  that  they  cannot  do  so. 

Fortnightly  Conference 

A  conference  of  the  Centurions  and  Tithemen  with  the 
Teacher  will  be  held  the  first  and  third  Sundays  of  each 
month,  at  2  p.  m. 

Honorable  Mention 

The  Band  showing  the  most  regular  attendance  during 
the  year  shall  be  mentioned  at  the  Annual  Meeting,  and 
shall  be  known  as  the  *'  King's  Guard  "  and  shall  be  en- 
titled to  first  rank  and  special  honor  on  all  occasions. 

THE  SPECIFIC  AIM  OF  THE  GUILD  SHALL  BE: 

First.  To  study  and  practice  the  Bible  and  encourage 
each  other  in  the  business  of  life. 

Second.  For  each  one  to  find  something  to  do  (if  ever 
so  little)  for  the  good  of  those  around  us. 

SOME  OF  THE  METHODS  TO  BE  EMPLOYED 
ARE  THESE: 

First.     To  help  the  poor,  sick  and  unfortunate. 

Second.  To  maintain  a  Bible  Woman  and  Colporteur 
to  visit  and  circulate  books. 

Third.     To  maintain  one  child  in  the  Orphanage. 

Fourth.  To  educate  a  deserving  boy  or  girl  in  the 
Northfield  Schools. 

Fifth.     To  maintain  a  weekly  house  prayer-meeting. 

Sixth.     To  maintain  a  mother's  meeting. 


428  APPENDIX 

Seventh.     To  actively  engage  in  the  temperance  work. 
Eighth.     To  engage  in  such  other  work  as  the  teacher 
may  from  time  to  time  suggest. 

TEXT  OF  THE  CLASS: 

For  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but 
to  minister  and  to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for  many. 

MOTTO  VERSE  OF  THE  CLASS: 

I  live  for  those  who  love  me^ 

For  those  who  know  me  true; 
For  the  heaven  that  smiles  above  me, 

And  awaits  my  spirit  too ; 
For  the  cause  that  lacks  assistance, 

For  the  wrong  that  needs  resistance, 
For  the  future  in  the  distance — 

For  the  good  that  I  can  do. 

The  Lord's  Day,  March  4, 1888. 


OF  THK 

TJNIVERSITT 


RETURN  CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 

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